NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 
203 
history of the fishes of the Gulf coast which even to this day constitutes the bulk of 
our knowledge of many of the species of that region. He made invaluable collections, 
containing many species new to science, and his own direct contributions to the 
literature of Florida fishes, published in the Fishery Industries reports of the Tenth 
Census, may well serve as models for writers on natural-history subjects. The 
untimely death of Mr. Stearns in 1888 was a severe loss to science as well as to the 
State of Florida. 
Since 1878 a number of persons have done more or less collecting in Florida; 
among them the following may be mentioned: Hr. J. W. Yelie, in Clearwater Harbor 
and vicinity; Dr. J. A. Henshall, from Biscayne Bay around the coast to Tampa; Dr. 
Jordan, at Pensacola, Cedar Keys, and Key West; Dr. O. P. Hay, about Captiva 
Pass; the vessels of the Fish Commission, at the Tortugas, on the Snapper Banks, 
and elsewhere along the Gulf coast; Messrs. A. J. Woolman and L. J. Bettger, in the 
streams of the western part of the State; Mr. Einar Lbnnberg, in the fresh waters 
about Orlando; Mr. Charles H. Bollman and the writer, at Pensacola and on the 
Snapper Banks; Mr. Barton A. Bean and the writer, in Indian River and Lake 
Worth; Dr. H. M. Smith, in Biscayne Bay; Dr. William C. Kendall, in the St. Johns 
River; and Dr. Kendall and the writer, about Biscayne Bay, Key West, Tampa, aud 
Tarpon Springs. The characteristics of the fish fauna of the other portions of the 
State are almost wholly unknown; and our knowledge of those regions which have 
received some attention is far from satisfactory. New species and new and important 
facts about known ones are discovered each time any investigations are made in any 
part of the State. A vast amount of work remains to be done before we may consider 
our knowledge of the fishes of Florida even approximately complete. 
THE FISHES OF FLORIDA. 
The total number of species of fishes known from Floridian waters is about 600, 
or about one-fifth of the entire fish fauna of America north of Panama. This number 
is far larger than can be found in any other section of our country, and is due to the 
diversity and peculiarities of the climatic conditions already mentioned. The Florida 
fish fauna may be regarded as made up of at least five more or less distinct fauuas: 
(a) the salt-water fauna of our South Atlantic States, ( b ) the subtropical fauna of the 
Florida Keys, ( c ) the Gulf of Mexico fauna, (d) the fresh water fauna of the southern 
portion of the Lower Mississippi Valley, and (e) the fresh- water fauna of the Everglades. 
These, of course, overlap more or less, aud in a consideration of the entire fish 
fauna of America these regions would not be regarded as constituting distinct faunal 
areas; but for our present purpose they may properly be considered as fairly distinct. 
From Fernandina southward to Biscayne Bay are found most of the species charac- 
teristic of the coast south of Cape Hatteras. From Biscayne Bay to Key West and 
the Tortugas is found a fish fauua marvelous in its multitude of species and in their 
richness of coloration. 
Among the fishes of this region which deserve special mention are the great 
numbers of groupers, snappers, grunts, and porgies, all important food-fishes; the 
many labroid species, such as the hogfish, pudding-wife, and the various parrot-fishes, 
all remarkable for their brilliant coloration; the many species of pipefishes, the tangs, 
angel-fish, and chsetodonts, among them several of the most gorgeous of American 
fishes. 
