JEWFISH. Any of several groupers of trop ical American waters, and the largest of the sea bass family Serranidie.
( 1 ) A guasa (Promicrops guttatus). common on both coasts of Mexico. and about, Florida and the West Indies, and known in the vicinity of Pensacola as warsaw (a corruption of guasa. q.v.). It is a robust species, with a big, flat head and a huge mouth with formidable teeth. It has a voracious appetite. The color of the young is pale olive-green, with five crossbars of darker green; but as the fish grows older the general hue becomes dark olive-green. It haunts rocky places. Ordinary specimens do not often exceed 20 pounds in weight; but one was brought to New York in 1874 which weighed 300 pound.
(2) The black jewfish of Florida, also called `warsaw' and `mero de alto' by fishermen, is a related species ( (larrupa nigrita), which ranges from south Carolina to Brazil, but is not present on the Pacific side of Central America. Few have
been examined which weighed less than 100 pounds, and specimens exceeding 500 pounds are recorded. tts color is chocolate brown. varying to blackish-gray. without markings. and little. paler on the ventral parts, and the fish is a fa vorite object of sport with rod and line. Consult Holder, Big Game Fishes (New York, 1903).
(3) On the coast of southern California. an immense fish of the same family and habits (Stereo/ppis gigas). brownish with large green i-di-black blotches, and the ventral fins black. It is five to seven feet long. reaches a weight of 500 pounds. and frequents the neighborhood of rocky islands. The flesh of the smaller speci mens. often called 'black sea-bass.' commands a high price.