warsaw

See also: Warsaw

English

A warsaw or Atlantic goliath grouper, Epinephelus itajara

Etymology

Probably a corruption of Spanish guasa or mero guasa (“Atlantic goliath grouper”), which may be from Tupinambá guaçu (“large”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔː

Noun

warsaw (plural warsaws)

1. Any of several species of grouper, subfamily Epinephelinae
   • 1965, Melville Bell Grosvenor, Leonard J Grant, Leonard Peter Schultz, Wondrous World of Fishes, page 118:

     BLACK GROUPER Mycteroperca bonaci […] They rank as fair food fish. Fishermen give them a variety of names: Warsaw grouper, gray grouper, jewfish, rockfish.

   • 1975, George A. Rounsefell, Ecology, Utilization, and Management of Marine Fisheries, page 144:

     In the Gulf of Mexico handlines are also an important gear for the offshore subtropical bank fishes, accounting for 12,847,000 pounds of various snappers, 6,928,000 pounds of groupers, and 538,000 pounds of jewfish, warsaw, and grunts.

   1. The jewfish or guasa (Epinephelus itajara).

      Synonyms: Atlantic goliath grouper, itajara

      • [1884, G. Brown Goode, The fisheries and fishery industries of the United States, page 365:

        Plate 165. THE JEW-FISH OR “WARSAW.” Promicrops guasa, Pooey. (P. 412)]

      • 1888, J.S. [John Sterling] Kingsley, The Riverside Natural History, page 224:

        Although the red grouper is indeed a large fish compared to most, often weighing forty pounds, it is almost a pigmy compared with a related fish of this family, the jew-fish, guasa, or Warsaw (Promicrops itaira). This fish is yellowish or olivaceous, sprinkled with numerous brown spots.

      • 1889 October 26, C.F. Holder, “The hard-scaled bass of the Pacific”, in Scientific American, page 265:

        In the Atlantic (south) we have an allied form, the gansa or warsaw (Promicrops itaira), that attains a weight of over six hundred pounds.

      • 1903, Charles Frederick Holder, The Big Game Fishes of the United States, pages 303-304:

        There are two genera called jewfish by the habitues of the reef: the black grouper, when of large size, and the “Warsaw,” Promicrops itaiara. Not a few anglers profess to believe the two fishes identical, the huge Warsaw being the adult black grouper; but the consensus of opinion is against this

   2. A fish, the black grouper (Epinephelus nigritus).
      • 2001, Linda E. Lucas, “Fishery Management and Local Communities: The Case of Madeira Beach, Florida”, in Marine Fisheries Review, volume 63, number 4, page 35:

        Shallow-water grouper include red Epinephelus morio; […] warsaw Epinephelus nigritus; speckled hind Epinephelus hammondhayi; and scamp (after the shallow-water quota is filled).

      • 2009, Calhoun Country Navigation District’s Proposed Matagorda Ship Channel Improvement Project: Environmental Impact Statement, section 3, page 108:

        The Warsaw grouper (Epinephelus nigritus) was listed as a species of concern in 1997. It is a very large fish found on deepwater reefs of the southeastern United States.

      • 2011, Ken Schultz, Ken Schultz’s Field Guide to Saltwater Fish, page 145:

        The young warsaw has a yellow tail and a dark saddle on the caudal peduncle. The warsaw is distinctive as the only grouper with 10 dorsal spines, the second of which is much longer than the third.

References

• “warsaw”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.