CERTAIN CITIZENS OF THE WARM SEA 
139 
Miami Aquarium, so admirably located 
at Miami Beach, Florida, one of the 
aquarists, when superintending the clean¬ 
ing of the tanks, will pet the Barracuda 
much as a child strokes the back of a pet 
cat, and the fish will, in a seemingly 
gentle way, take food from his hand. 
FOOD VALUE OF WARM-SEA FISH 
In the Florida markets the several 
members of the Grouper family are highly 
considered and find a ready market, while 
in Bermuda these fishes are not looked 
upon with favor. The Groupers represent 
one of the largest families of fishes in 
tropical and subtropical waters. Some of 
the species reach a length of eight to ten 
feet and weigh, at times, as much as 600 
pounds. 
The Black Grouper, which grows to be 
one of the largest of the family, is ex¬ 
tremely wary and is one of the most diffi¬ 
cult of fishes to land. When one is still¬ 
fishing, this species will sometimes en¬ 
circle the bait for hours before deciding 
to take it. 
One would imagine that the fish looks 
its surroundings over very carefully be¬ 
fore venturing to take the bait; but, 
when apparently satisfied that it should 
take it, the Black Grouper bites at it most 
viciously and forthwith makes for the 
nearest hole in the coral reef, and thus 
it often frees itself by running the line 
over a sharp edge of the reef. Once 
the hooked fish reaches a hole, it is almost 
impossible to bring it again to the sur¬ 
face. Trolling is by far the best way to 
take the Black Grouper (Color Plate, 
page 146). 
The Nassau Grouper is another large 
member of the family., It, like the other 
Groupers, inhabits the coral reefs and 
lives a solitary life, except during the 
breeding season, when it is gregarious. 
During this period it congregates in large 
shoals, from which habit the family re¬ 
ceives its name. The Nassau species 
changes color with great facility, but 
during the change a black spot at the 
base of the tail retains its deep color, no 
matter what other tints may come and 
go all over its body (Color Plate, page 
145)- 
The Red Grouper is not, on the average, 
as large as its Nassau cousin, forty 
pounds being a high weight for this 
species. It is a good food-fish and is beau¬ 
tiful in appearance. It has habits similar 
to the other Groupers (Color Plate, page 
145)- 
The Gag, a smaller-scale Grouper, is not 
only esteemed as a food-fish wherever it 
may be found, but is also one of the 
gamiest of the family. It seldom attains 
a greater length than four feet. Its hab¬ 
itat is principally along the Florida reefs; 
it also frequents the Bermudas (Color 
Plate, page 146). 
The gamiest of the Grunts, the Margate 
fish, is another excellent food-fish, like¬ 
wise the Mutton-fish, of the Snapper fam¬ 
ily, which is considered the best fighter 
of that clan and also the largest repre¬ 
sentative. Some Mutton-fish reach a 
weight of as much as 25 pounds (Color 
Plates, pages 148 and 144). 
THE MAJESTIC MACKEREL AND HIS 
KINGLY COUSIN 
Some of the species mentioned are 
popular only locally, but the Spanish 
Mackerel is known favorably not only in 
its own habitat, but wherever shipping 
facilities are such as to provide for the 
transportation of this sound, finely 
flavored fish. Millions of pounds are 
shipped north annually from the State 
of Florida alone. From one market. Key 
West, more than 3,000,000 pounds are 
shipped each year. They are surface¬ 
living fish of great game qualities, elegant 
in form and color, and among the swift¬ 
est fishes of the sea, as their stream-like 
line and tail indicate. They appear in 
countless numbers in southern waters 
from November to March, during which 
period they are taken in great quanti¬ 
ties for the market (Color Plate, page 
H9)- 
Associated with the Spanish Mackerel 
is the Kingfish, which is somewhat larger, 
on the average. Both belong to the same 
family and are much alike in many re¬ 
spects. As a food-fish, the Kingfish ranks 
next to the Spanish Mackerel, and nearly 
half a million pounds are shipped each 
year from the Key West markets (Color 
Plate, page 149). 
THE NUMEROUS JACK FAMILY 
Most of the fishes referred to are car¬ 
nivorous and are not frequently seen in 
the neighboring waters of populated sec¬ 
tions. It is by no means a rarity, how¬ 
ever, for even the most wary—excepting. 
