41 NATUKAL HISTOEY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



for use in chowders ; in this respect a rival of the hacldock, its flesh being very sweet, flaky, and 

 Arm. By reason of the hardness of its flesh it is esi)ecially adapted to packing and shipment in 

 ice, and in snniDier is probably one of the most desirable fishes to be obtained in the city markets. 

 The principal commercial fisheries are located in the Vineyard and Fisher's Island Sound and the 

 vicinity, carried on by Noank and New London smacks oft the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and 

 off Charleston, South Carolina. As has already been stated, its distribution is very wide all along 

 the coast, and it is probable that its importance as a food-fish will increase in years to come. 



There is a small species (Serramis tn/urcus) resembling the Sea Bass which has been found 

 only in the vicinity of Charleston, boutli Carolina, and Pensacola, Florida, where it is called the 

 "Rock Black-fish"; it occasionally fiuds its way to the Charleston markets. 



The Squiekel-fish — Sereanus pascictjlaeis. 



The Squirrel-fish is usually to be seen in the markets of Charleston, north of which it has 

 never been discovered. The following paragraph from Holbrook's " Ichthyology of South Caro- 

 lina" contains all that has been observed regarding its habits : 



" Little can be said of the habits of this fish. It however appears in our waters iu May and 

 June and remains until November. It is occasionally taken with the hook on the black-fish 

 grounds, but is never abundant. Southward it ranges at least to Brazil." 



137. THE GROUPERS. 

 The Eed Geotjpee — Epinephelus mobio. 



Next in importance to the Sea Bass are the varions species of Grouper, members of the genus 

 Epinephelus. The " Eed Grouper," as it is called in Florida, and in New York markets Epinephe- 

 lus morio, is a large species, sometimes attaining the weight of forty or fifty pounds. There is no 

 certain record of its having been captured north of Florida, where it is called the "Brown Snap- 

 per," or "Eed-bellied Snapper." DeKay, writing in 1842, stated that it was not unusual iu the 

 New York market in June and July, where it was called by the fishermen ' Groper,' or ' Eed Groper'; 

 that it is a Southern species and is brought from the reefs of Florida, but that he had been 

 informed by Indian fishermen that it is occasionally, but very rarely, taken off the coast of New 

 York; he added that Dr. Holbrook informed him that it was brought into the Charleston markets 

 from Florida in the months of January, February, and March. 



Holbrook wrote: "The Grouper is so seldom seen on our coast that nothing can at this time 

 be said of its habits; but in confinement, as it is brought to us from Key West, it appears very 

 ^'oracious and bold, taking food even from the hand when offered, and always injuring such other 

 species of fish as may be its fellow-captives." 



It is very abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and about the Florida Keys, and is said also to be 

 abundant along the whole coast of East Florida, and is often taken on the Saint John's bar. Mr. 

 S. C. Clarke writes that it occurs in the vicinity of New Smyrna, Florida, where it spi^wns in bays 

 and inlets in the months of May and June, as does also the Black Grouper. The only reliable 

 study of its habits which has been made we owe to Mr. Silas Stearns, whose biographical sketch of 

 this species may here be quoted in full: 



"The Eed Grouper is extremely abundant in the Gulf of Mexico in company with the red 

 snapper. It is most abundant on the South Florida coast, and is found throughout the year on the 

 'grounds' at sea and in summer in some of the bays. It probably spawns in both places, and in 

 June and July. Tlie young are often caught in Pensacola Bay. In June, 1880, 1 obtained a young 



