THE MULLET AND EED SNAPPER 
391 
very peculiar character, which makes them look 
like ribs afflicted with elephantiasis. 
Mr. John T. Granger, of Washington, regards 
the Permit, or Great Pompano 1 as a game fish 
well worthy of the attention of salt-water an- 
glers, and believes that it will become a general 
favorite. A struggle with a 27-pound fish, taken 
with rod and reel at Miami, Florida, revealed to 
Mr. Granger the game qualities of the Permit. 
The Mullet. — Throughout the sounds, and 
bays, and half-salt rivers of the Carolinas, Flor- 
ida, and the Gulf states, the mullets are omni- 
present and highly prized. When better fishes 
fail you, they can be depended upon to fill the 
dish; and you may go far without finding a 
more toothsome morsel than a Silver Mullet , 2 
or White Mullet, freshly snatched from its 
native element with a fling of the cast-net that 
experience alone can give. If you wish to be- 
guile the Silver King, you first catch a Mullet, 
or buy one, for bait. 
The name of this fish brings vividly to mind 
the balmy air and placid waters of Indian River, 
Florida, in February; a little, mangrove-clad 
archipelago along its eastern shore; herons 
quawking hoarsely in the green tangle, and small 
fishes of glistening silver jumping a yard high in 
front of a lotus-eater’s boat. The Mullet leaps 
high in the air, gleaming and dripping, from 
pure joy in being alive amid such beautiful sur- 
roundings; and, having attained his zenith, he 
relaxes and falls back broadside upon the 
water, with a startling “slap.” In one quiet 
evening hour afloat, you may see thirty or forty 
Mullet leap out of water, and to some persons 
the sight is even more welcome than the flight 
of a bird. 
The Silvery Mullet is a very trim little fish, — ■ 
big-scaled, round-bodied and swift. In exter- 
nal appearance, it is very much like a pygmy 
tarpon, and quite as silvery. It is really a 
small fish, averaging about 9 inches in length, 
and as food for other fishes, and fish-eating birds, 
it is ideal. The brown pelicans of Pelican Island 
delight in this fish. When Mrs. Latham play- 
fully squeezed the neck of a big, clumsy young 
pelican in the down, it promptly disgorged nine 
good-sized Mullet. I have seen a darter, with 
a neck one inch in diameter, swallow a nine- 
inch Mullet with relish and despatch. 
1 T. goodei 2 Mu' gil bra-sil-i-en'sis. 
The Mullet genus ( Mugil ) contains about 
seventy species, widely distributed throughout 
the warm waters of the world. Besides the 
species mentioned and figured above, the Striped 
Mullet is also abundant in the waters of our 
southeastern coast. Both are important food 
fishes, and are caught in great numbers for the 
southern markets. They are taken in gill-nets 
and cast-nets, and the largest specimens rarely 
attain a weight of 6 pounds. 
Of all North American fishes, the Mullets are 
fourth in commercial value. In 1897, the total 
catch amounted to 21,402,624 pounds, which 
sold for $332,090. Of this, the yield to Florida 
alone amounted to 16,700,094 pounds. 
THE RED SNAPPER. 
THE SNAPPER FAMILY. 
Lu-ti-an'i-dae. 
The Red Snapper 3 brilliantly represents a 
large and important Family of valuable food 
fishes, which in our waters contains about 35 
species. Many of these fishes are handsomely 
and showily colored, red being the commonest 
and most conspicuous tint, with yellow tints of 
frequent occurrence. A typical Red Snapper 
is recognizable a hundred feet distant by the 
clear and beautiful crimson color which com- 
pletely suffuses it. 
The average market specimen is about 16 
inches long, but it is stated that this species 
3 Lu-ti-an'us ay' a. 
