228 
FOREST AND’ STREAM: 
[Fex. 10, 1906. 

do his best to smash the angler’s tackle.” 
THe ANGELFISH (Chetodipterus faber) —On 
the St. Johns and Indian rivers and in most other 
parts of Florida and north to South Carolina this 
fine food fish is known by the name at the head 
of this sketch. It is the spadefish of the western 
part of the Gulf of Mexico. At Beaufort it is 
called porgee. Names said to have been used by 
New York fishermen are three-tailed porgee and 
three-tailed sheepshead. We have heard it styled 
the triple-tail also. Moonfish is still another 
name for the species. 
The angelfish appears to range from Cape Cod, 
where it is an occasional visitor, to Brazil. It is 
known in the West Indies and is common in the 
Gulf of Mexico, In the warm portions of the 
Pacific it is recorded as far north at San Diego, 
but it is too rare in California to figure as an im- 
portant food fish. Owing to the fact that the 
young is banded and the adult unicolor, two spe- 
cies were until recently credited to our coast. A 
striking peculiarity of the skull of old specimens 
of the angelfish is the globular bony mass formed 

by the enlargement of some of the bones of the 
top of the head. As a curiosity this ranks as 
high as the molar-bearing pharyngeal bones of 
the drum. 
The food of the angelfish is crustaceans. The 
fish reaches a length of two feet. The spawning 
season is early summer, according to Stearns, and 
the young remain until October. 
“The moonfish, or as it is universally called in 
Florida, the ‘angelfish, is abundant on both 
coasts, but is a much better fish for the table than 
for the angler. It is one of the best fish for the 
frying pan of the camper, but it has a very small 
mouth and is seldom taken with the hook. It 
grows to several pounds in weight, about 6 
pounds, being the heaviest I have seen, though it 
is oftener taken of but a pound in the seines of 
the fishermen, Light tackle is needed for its 
capture.” 
THe Srtver Mutrer (Mugil curema).—This 
well known and abundant fish has the additional 
names, jumping mullet, white mullet, blueback 
mullet, big-eyed mullet and liza. It is not in- 
cluded here because of its game qualities, but on 
account of its universal application as a bait fish 
and its excellence for food. 
“Neither the silver mullet nor the striped mul- 
let are game fishes. I once took one of the latter 
on a small artificial gray fly, as an experiment, 
but although it was hooked in the mouth, I think 
it was an accident, for I never succeeded in tak- 
ing another. The mullets swarm in countless 
myriads in all the shallow waters in Florida, both 
salt and fresh. They furnish food for fishes, rep- 
tiles, birds and man. They are important to the 
angler only as bait-fishes, and because so easily 
captured with the cast-net are important as food 
fishes to the settlers of Florida. They are valu- 
able commercial fishes, likewise, being the prin- 
cipal objects of pursuit at the fishing ranches, 
where they are split, cleaned and salted.” 
THE Rep SNAPPER (Lutjanus blackfordii).— 
The pargo colorado of the Cuban fishermen in 
the Gulf of Mexico is the famous red snapper of 
Americans. The favorite grounds of this bril- 
lant fish are in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carib- 
bean Sea. Northward on our coast its range ex- 
tends almost to Cape Cod. 
The red snapper lives among the rocks in 
depths varying from five to forty-five fathoms, 
changing its locations somewhat with the sea- 
son. Off Pensacola, we are informed by the rec- 
ords of Silas Stearns, it appears to move inshore 
in the fall. It consumes an almost endless num- 
ber of bottom fishes, including many forms that 
are never seen except in its interior. Crabs and 
prawns also form a part of its food. There is 
not a more showy species known to us in Florida 
waters nor a more palatable one. 
Red snapper fishing is a favorite pastime on the 
banks near Jacksonville. Off Egmont Key is a 
THE COMMON POMPANO. 
famous place for the species. We have seen the 
deck of the Fish Commission steamer Albatross 
covered with red snappers on the Pensacola 
grounds in a very short time. The areas cov- 
ered by the fish are usually small, and vessels 
often drift away from the feeding place in a few 
minutes. We used groupers and porgies (Cala- 
mus sp.) for bait. Almost any kind of bright- 
colored fresh fish will answer. Goode says 
they will sometimes bite at a white rag. The line 
must have a sinker and be strong enough to with- 
stand the weight and brief strugeles of a large 
fish, or of a pair of large fish, for it is not un- 
common to haul up two of a kind. 
Tue Brack Bass (Micropterus salmoides).— 
Large-mouthed black bass, known also as the 
green bass, Oswego bass, bayou bass, jumper, 
moss bass, chub, Welshman and trout, is one of 
the best known and most widely distributed of 
our fresh-water fishes. It extends to the north- 
west as far as Manitoba and is common in all 
the Gulf States. In Florida, writes Dr. Henshall, 
“it is abundant in all fresh-water lakes, ponds and 
streams, and even in the brackish water at the 
mouths of rivers.” In the Forest AND STREAM 
office is the mounted head of a black bass caught 
in Florida, which weighed 23% pounds. 
“In running waters it is as gamy as in the 
North, and is a much better food fish. It rises 
well to the artificial fly of the conventional pat- 
terns and colors, and can be taken by any of the 
usual baits, or by trolling with the spoon, or even 
a bit of white rag. 
. “In view of its greater weight than at the 
North, a somewhat heavier rod should be used, 
from eight to ten ounces, both for bait and fly- 
rods, otherwise, the same tackle is employed; and 
it will be found in Florida, as elsewhere, that inch 
for inch and pound for pound, it is the gamest 
fish that swims.” 
THE SEA CatFisH (Galeichthys felis).—Wel- 
come or unwelcome, this is one of the angler’s 
fishes in Florida, and must come into the array 
with more desired forms. Blue cat and salt-water 
catfish are names applied to this species. 
“The marine catfish is omnipresent on the 
coasts of Florida, rather more so than the angler 
desires, and often to his extreme disgust; for it 
takes both bait and fly intended for other and 
more desirable species—though it is more readily 
taken toward dusk or after dark. Anything in 
the way of bait will answer for the catfish, as it 
is not at all choice or fastidious in its tastes and 
desires, and will grunt its satisfaction just the 
same, when in the angler’s possession, whether 
chewing up his best fly or a bit of white rag. 
“T have never known it to be eaten. I tried it 
once as a matter of experiment, and, although my 
curiosity was satisfied, my palate was so out- 
raged and disgusted that I have ever since been 
almost ashamed to look one in the face. And 
really I have no gastronomic use for a fish that 
makes a cradle of its mouth by carrying its eggs 
and young in it. 
“There are several fresh-water species, any of 
which can be taken with any kind of bait and al- 
most any kind of tackle; the only difficulty with 
the angler is to avoid taking them.” 
THE JewrisH (Promicrops itaiara).—The 
gcuasa of the West Indies, changed into warsaw at 
Pensacola, and known also as jewfish and black 
grouper, is the largest scaled fish of Atlantic 
waters. Professor Poey records the maximum 
weight of this leviathan as 600 pounds. It should 
be mentioned also that the jewfish is quite dis- 
tinct from the black grouper (Epinephelus nigri- 
tus), and may be at once distinguished from it 
by comparing the very low spinous dorsal of the 
first with the high triangular first dorsal of the 
black grouper: 
“The jewfish is a fair game fish, and the smaller 
ones can be caught in the deep portions of inlets 
and passes, where there are holes among the 
rocks, or on the sides of channels that are being 
washed away by the tide, leaving the banks per- 
pendicular and the water deep, especially if the 
bank or shore is well wooded and the roots are 
exposed by the washing away of the soil. They 
are taken in such localities from 5 to 20 pounds, 
generally with the hand line and mullet or crab 
bait. Light striped bass tackle answers well for 
the jewfish of these weights, and it gives good 
sport, being a strong and active fish. 
“The jewfish grows to an enormous size, how- 
ever, and passes in and out of the inlets with the 
tide when of great weight. I helped to capture 
one on a shark line at Jupiter Lighthouse that 
weighed on the steelyard 340 pounds. Col. Matt. 
S. Quay, of Philadelphia, was a witness to the 
