THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
171 
Color in life: Very dark green above, middle part of each scale brassy-black, its edge broadly 
pearly- whitish; below lateral line the duskiness of middle of scale passes into brassy, and below into 
bright coppery, belly and lower parts of head being more or less distinctly bright coppery-red; lower jaw 
grayish; no blue stripe below eye, except in very young; top of head blackish-olive; dorsal blackish, 
its margin darker and tinged with maroon-red; soft dorsal dusky, anteriorly slightly edged with whitish ; 
caudal violaceous or maroon-black; anal wine-color, edged with whitish; pectoral pale flesh-color; 
ventrals whitish, faintly marked with reddish. Young with a blackish band from snout through eye 
to nape, very distinct in life; a blue streak below eye; spinous dorsal with a dark maroon-colored 
band along edge. An example, 10.5 inches long, from the San Juan market, was brownish-red on body; 
blue suborbital streak quite distinct and continuous; two blue streaks below and forward from eye, only 
one on right side; apparently a deep-water example. Fishes from deep water are much redder than 
those taken near shore. In no case is the caudal yellowish or of any pale shade. 
The above description chiefly from a specimen 11 inches long from Key West but verified on 
specimens from Porto Rico. The variations in proportional measurements are not great. 
Found in the West Indies and ranging from New Jersey to Brazil; very common along our South 
Atlantic and Gulf coasts, occasionally straying northward as far as New Jersey, being the northernmost 
in its range of any member of the genus in the Atlantic; everywhere generally known as gray snapper. 
In Florida and the Bahamas, where the coasts are lined by mangrove bushes, among which the young 
of this species abound, the name mangrove snapper comes into use. It inhabits water of varying depths, 
large specimens being often found near the shore, while others may be taken in waters of considerable 
depth in company with Neomsenis aya. These latter individuals are much redder than those found in 
shoal water; their general color is paler and the body is a trifle less elongate; such correspond to the 
form named Lutjanits steamsi. 
All the snappers are game-fishes of considerable importance, and the gray snapper is one of the 
best. Its abundance and wide distribution, the ease with which it can be found at all seasons, together 
with the readiness and vigor with which it takes the hook and the fairly good fight which it makes, 
should cause this fish to be much sought after by anglers who visit our southern and tropical waters. 
In Indian River, Florida, the mangrove snapper is regarded as a very good food-fish and is of 
considerable commercial importance, its average weight being about 2 pounds, the maximum about 
6 or 7 pounds. At Key West, where it is the most abundant of the snappers, it attains a length of 3 
feet and a weight of 18 pounds, though the average of those caught is 5 pounds or less. Here it is 
usually called gray snapper and is regarded as a warm-water fish, being most plentiful in shallow 
water in summer, but retiring to deeper water during winter, and always running in schools; it is said 
to spawn in July and August, usually on the shoals, the eggs being nonadhesive and separating from 
each other at spawning; it is caught with hook and line, sardines and pilchard being the usual bait. 
About Porto Rico this is an important food-fish and is known as “pargo prieto.” Specimens 
are in the collection from San Juan market, Puerto Real, Arroyo, and Isabel Segunda, and one from 
San Geronimo. It was one of the most common species in the San Juan market and was seen in all 
the other markets of the island. The largest seen weighed about 6 pounds. 
Tardus pinnis branchialibus carens (mangrove snapper), Catesby, Hist. Carolina.pl. 9, 1743, Bahamas. 
Caballerote, Parra, Descr. Dif. Piezas, Hist. Nat., pi. 25, fig. 1, 1787, Havana. 
Babrus griseus Linn*us, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 283, 1758, Bahamas; after Catesby. 
Spams tetracanthus Bloch, Ichthyol., pi. 279, 1791, Martinique; on a drawing by Plumier. 
Anthias caballerote Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 310, 1801, Cuba; after Parra. 
Bodianus vivanet LacCpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, pi. 4, fig. 3, 1803, Martinique; on a drawing by Plumier. 
Mesoprion griseus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. , II, 409, 1828, Santo Domingo; not after Linnaeus. 
Lobotes emarginatus Baird & Girard, 9th Smith. Rept. 1855, 332, Beesley Point, N. .1. 
Lufjanus steamsi Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. N. M. 1878, 179, Pensacola, Fla. 
Neomsenis griseus, Jordan & Evermann, l.e., 1255, 1898. 
125 . Neomsenis jocu (Bloch & Schneider). “ Pargo Colorado” ; Dog Snapper; Jocu. 
(Plate 18.) 
Head 2.57; depth 2.57; eye 4.75; snout 2.6; maxillary 2.57; mandible 5; interorbital 5.5; D. x, 
13; A. in, 8; scales 8-50-16, about 45 pores. Body comparatively deep and compressed, back elevated; 
profile steep and almost straight from snout to nape, thence little convex; snout rather long and 
pointed; eye moderate; interorbital space narrow, gently convex; occipital keel moderate; preorbital 
