Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-01-04
The DOgfsh.

The writer, in company with one fish.
erman, about ten miles off this place,
caught over three hundred pounds of
cod by hand lines, the fish biting almost
continually, so that the sport gradually
became arduous and finally merged into
hard work, when the fish reached twenty
pounds or more. This was during the
last of August. The following day, the
same ground being fished by fifteen or
more men, hardly thirty pounds were
caught, and the day after not cod had
dock, or hake could be found. Thus in
the space of a comparatively few hours
there was complete closing up of good
fishing. This was more or less the case
along many parts of Maine, and the eff
feet upon these grades of fish will prob
ably be noticed by comparison of the
prices of the first two weeks of August
and the last.
The cause of this peculiar disappear
ance was the sudden appearance of i'm
mense schools of dogfish, the Squalls
AnaericGnuS of the naturalist. = 1t would
be impossible to estimate the vast
numbers of these fish. All other fishing
was consequently given up; everybody
went dog-fiishing, and after several
hours the twenty or more dories would
come in loaded to the waters edge.
Every afternoon. from four to- six
thousand were brought to Ogunquit
alone. They were so ravenous that the
men speared them while waiting to haul
their travis, and they told us they bit
at the sails that dragged overheard,
and even at the oars and boat. The
water was fairly alive with the starving
horde that bit and devoured each other
on theshooks. Their livers are worth
three-quarters of cent apiece for the
oil, while the bodies are taken by the
Goldfish peddlers now out of work, and
carried to their farms for manure. The
skin is also valued in the manufactures
for sword-handles, covering for boxes,
card cases, etc. In form the dog fish
resembles the typical shark, only before
each dorsal fin is a sharp spine that is
and effective weapon.
Their food consists of whatever they
can get. The writer examined several
hundred for the purpose of finding out
if there was any special food, but in the
stomachs of only one or two was any
thing found, this being a deep water
startish-Ophiacantha. This month vast
quantities of jelly6sh, cyanea, aurelia,
etc., are found in the Maine waters, and
one of the fishermen said that the
dogish ate them, biting out a piece
from the center of the jelly. He had
seen it done repeatedly, and examined
quantities of jellies with round holes
eaten out of them. Concerning the vo-
racity of these fish there is little doubt,
and to fall overheard out upon the
Banks would be fatal Some years ago,
during run of dogfish, "a child fell from a
schooner on the Georges Bank, and the
men reached the rail only to see a ball
Of dogfish so large about the body that
it could not be seen. A man at Town
End was caught by them while swim
ming out to his boat, and the lockers on
from the shore saw him leap out of
water when attacked, seemingly literally
covered with dogfish, that tore him in
pieces quicker than would pack of
The visitation of these fish is
Of yearly occurrence, but this year their
numbers are unprecedented. The fish
srmen believe them to come from the
liulf Stream and warmer water, as they
disappear upon the approach of cold
weather. Most of them are females
containing nearly full-grown young, but
they breed at all seasons.-Matne Cor.
N. u, Post ~s