THE FISH FAUNA OF FLORIDA. 
By BARTON WARREN EVERMANN, Ph. D., 
Ichthyologist, U. S. Fish Commission. 
There is perhaps no State in the Union whose fishes have attracted more general 
attention than have those of Florida. The interest in the fishes of this State is 
shared by the commercial fishermen, the angler, and the ichthyologist. The number 
of species that are sought because of their commercial value is far greater than in 
any other section of America. Those that are of interest to the angler are more 
numerous than any other State can boast, while the richness and peculiarities of the 
fish fauna of Florida have made this State a fascinating field to the ichthyologist and 
student of geographic distribution. 
Before entering upon the detailed discussion of the fish fauna let us notice for a 
moment a few of the more important geographic and cbmatological factors of the 
State, for these are the features which determine the character of the fish fauna of 
any region. 
Florida is the most southern of all the States, the entire State lying south of the 
thirty-first parallel. Its most southern point is in latitude 24° 3d, about 1° 30' 
farther south than any other point of our territory. In longitude it extends from 
the eightieth meridian to that of 87° 30'. It will be thus seen that the State extends 
through 6£ degrees of latitude (nearly 400 miles) and 7£ degrees of longitude (or 
about 400 miles). It has relatively and actually by far the greatest shore line of any 
State, the total being not fewer than 1,200 miles, or more than 1 mile of shore line 
for every 5 square miles of territory — in fact, about 230 more miles of sea front than it 
could have if it were a square island. 
Though Florida has not the diversified geographic features possessed by many other 
States, such as Georgia, which give it mountain torrent, upland river, and lowland 
marsh, nevertheless its numerous lakes and rivers are not without variety. Some of 
the streams are more or less turbid, some clear and cold, others temperate, and others- 
warm. All are rich in water vegetation, which invariably implies a rich fauna as well, 
and the vast Everglades present conditions hardly to be duplicated elsewhere in 
America. 
The more than 1,200 miles of coast line present great diversity as to nature of 
shore and temperature of water. There are to be found on the Florida coast almost 
any kind of shore one may desire; vast areas of mud flats in some places, long reaches 
of clean sand and shallow water in others, rocky shores with shallow tide pools, a 
multitude of narrow, shallow channels and mangrove islands, and the great chain of 
Florida Keys, among which a wide diversity of conditions is found, such as great mud 
flats, large fields of algae, forests of gorgonians, great sponge-grounds, coral reefs, 
etc., not duplicated anywhere on our coast. 
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