Fig. 257.—Florida Jewfish, Promicrops itaiara (Lichtenstein). St. John's River, Fla.
Related to the jewfishes are numerous smaller fishes. One of these, the Spanish-flag of Cuba, Gonioplectrus hispanus, is rose-colored, with golden bands like the flag of Spain itself. Other species referred to Acanthistius and Plectropoma have, like this, hooked spines on the lower border of the preopercle.
Fig. 258.—Epinephelus striatus (Bloch), Nassau Grouper: Cherna criolla. Family Serranidæ.
Fig. 259.—John Paw or Speckled Hind, Epinephelus drummond-hayi Goode Pensacola.
Fig. 260.—Epinephelus morio (Cuvier & Valenciennes), Red Grouper, or Mero. Family Serranidæ.
The Groupers.—In all warm seas abound species of Epinephelus and related genera, known as sea-bass, groupers, or merous. They are mostly large voracious fishes with small scales, pale flesh of fair quality, and from their abundance they are of large commercial importance. To English-speaking people these fishes are usually known as grouper, a corruption of the Portuguese name garrupa. In the West Indies and about Panama there are very many species, and still others abound in the Mediterranean, in southern Japan, and throughout Polynesia and the West Indies. They have very much in common, but differ in size and color, some being bright red, some gaudily spotted with red or blue, but most of them are merely mottled green or brown. In many cases individuals living near shore are olivaceous, and those of the same species in the depths are bright crimson or scarlet. We name below a few of the most prominent species. Even a bare list of all of them would take many pages. Cephalopholis cruentatus, the red hind of the Florida Keys, is one of the smallest and brightest of all of them. Cephalopholis fulvus, the blue-spotted guativere of the Cubans, is called negro-fish, butter-fish, yellow-fish, or redfish, according to its color, which varies with the depth. It is red, yellow, or olive, with many round blue spots. Epinephelus adscenscionis, the rock-hind, is spotted everywhere with orange. Epinephelus guaza is the merou, or giant-bass, of Europe, a large food-fish of value, rather dull in color. Epinephelus striatus is the Nassau grouper, or Cherna criolla, common in the West Indies. Epinephelus maculosus is the cabrilla of Cuba. Epinephelus drummond-hayi, the speckled hind, umber brown, spotted with lavender, is one of the handsomest of all the groupers. Epinephelus morio, the red grouper, is the commonest of all these fishes in the American markets. In Asia the species are equally numerous, Epinephelus quernus of Hawaii and the red Epinephelus fasciatus of Japan and southward being food-fishes of importance. Epinephelus merra, Epinephelus gilberti, and Epinephelus tauvina are among the more common species of Polynesia. Epinephelus corallicola, a species profusely spotted, abounds in the crevices of coral reefs, while Cepholopholis argus and C. leopardus are showy fishes of the deeper channels. Mycteroperca venenosa, the yellow-finned grouper, is a large and handsome fish of the coast of Cuba, the flesh sometimes poisonous; when red in deep water it is known as the bonaci cardenal. Mycteroperca bonaci; the bonaci arará sells in our markets as black grouper. Mycteroperca microlepis is commonest along our South Atlantic coast, not reaching the West Indies, and Mycteroperca rubra, which is never red, enters the Mediterranean. Mycteroperca falcata is known in the markets as scamp, and Mycteroperca venadorum is a giant species from the Venados Islands, near Mazatlan. Diploprion bifasciatus is a handsome grouper-like fish with two black cross-bands, found in Japan and India. Variola louti, red, with crimson spots and a forked caudal fin, is one of the most showy fishes of the equatorial Pacific.