SNAPPERS OF GULF OF MEXICO 
271 
in deep water. The red snapper is one of the important food fishes of this country. 
During 1927, which probably represents an average year, it was marketed to the 
extent of about 12,000,000 pounds, which brought $1,000,000 to the fishermen. 
Among the commercial food fish of the Gulf coast, excluding mollusks and crustaceans 
and the menhaden, the red snapper is second in point of quantity obtained, being 
exceeded only by the mullet, while its value to the fishermen is not much less than 
that of the mullet, although about 2% times as much of this latter fish is marketed. 
Aside from its monetary value, the red snapper is of importance as a natural food 
resource because of the excellence of its meat. This species is well known for its 
delicious flavor, being second to none among the marine fishes of the United States. 
BIOLOGY 
While it is a very important food fish, it is significant that practically nothing is 
known regarding the life history of the red snapper. It is not known definitely when 
or where it spawns. According to Silas Stearns, who has been quoted bj 7 Goode, well- 
developed ovaries are found in those taken from April to July. It seems highly 
probable that they spawn in deep water, where the young fry remain and grow. This 
may be inferred as a consequence of the fact that its young are not taken, or are 
quite rare, in shallow water. The young of other species of Lutianus, such as the 
gray, dog, and lane snappers, the muttonfish, and the schoolmaster are often taken 
in shallow water by seining. They are more common in shallow water in the southern 
part of Florida and form more or less a permanent and characteristic feature of the 
shore fauna from North Carolina southward. The young of the red snapper, how- 
ever, are either not present in such situations or they are very rare. They should 
apparently be looked for in deeper water by means of trawling apparatus. 
Smith (in Fishes of North Carolina, p. 228, 1907) records young red snappers 
as having been seined on the beach at Beaufort, N. C. This record, in part at least, is 
evidently based on an error in identification. I have recently examined in the col- 
lection of the Bureau of Fisheries two young specimens, 57 millimeters long, taken at 
Beaufort, N. C., in 1902, and labelled L. blackjordii. These are, apparently, the 
specimens on which the record in Fishes of North Carolina is based. One of these 
is a young muttonfish. The other specimen, while strikingly similar in appearance, 
has 12 dorsal rays, a backward extension of the vomerine teeth, and a few less rows of 
scales. It is most probably a young lane snapper, although I do not have sufficient 
material of that size to establish the identification with certainty. Young specimens 
have been recorded from as far north as Massachusetts, these supposedly being 
stragglers which have been carried there by the Gulf stream. 
NOMENCLATURE AND SYNONYMY 
The name Lutianus blackjordii was undoubtedly applied to the common red 
snapper and has been frequently used by American writers for this species. Con- 
fusion has resulted from attempts to introduce the name aya which was based on 
Marcgrave’s account of some Brazilian fish. Now, if the Brazilian “red snappers” 
were well known it might have been possible to dispose of this name with some degree 
of assurance that such action would not have to be changed. Since, however, very 
little is known regarding these fishes on the coast of Brazil, it is not advisable to 
associate that name at present with the common American fish. 
