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Gray Grunt; Striped Grunt
This grunt is found from Indian River and Clearwater Harbor, Florida, southward to Jamaica and St. Thomas, but does not appear very common anywhere. Not many were seen in Porto Rico, where it is known as corocoro. It reaches a foot or more in length and is a good food-fish.
Colour in life, body dirty silvery with about 9 dark longitudinal streaks, plainest in the young; a median stripe from snout to dorsal fin; first and second lateral stripes from above eye to posterior end of soft dorsal; third from upper rim of orbit to vertical of posterior end of soft dorsal, where it joins the fifth; fourth, which is usually indistinct, from eye across opercle and disappearing on middle of side; the fifth and plainest from eye along middle of side, crossing lateral line, and joining third ends at base of caudal above lateral line; other lines on side more or less broken and indistinct; head dark grayish purple; an inky black spot on inner lower edge of opercle; lower jaw flesh-colour, with numerous fine dark specks; dorsal, caudal, anal, and pectoral yellow, dusky at base; ventrals dark; inside of mouth flesh-colour.
Haemulon bonariense, the black grunt or ronco prieto, is found in the West Indies and south to Buenos Ayres. It is not known from, Florida, and does not appear to be common anywhere. In Porto Rico, where it is known as ronco prieto or arrayado, it is fairly frequent and is highly esteemed.
Colour in spirits, pearly gray, centre of each scale brownish black, these coalescing and forming very sharply defined continuous undulating stripes, about 16 between front of dorsal and front of anal, the sixth extending from the scapular scale to last dorsal spine; base of caudal blackish; other fins dusky.