The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-20
THE TILEFISH.
An Interesting and Almost Unknown
Species.

An Interesting and Almost Unknown
Species.
From the New York Sun.
At the invitation of Hon. R. B. Roose-
velt president of the New York Society
for the Protection of Game, the members
of the association met at the Union Club
recently, and, previous to the transaction
of the regular business, sat down to a
banquet, at which was served, for the
first time in this city, a specimen of the
tilefish. Immediately after the serving of
the fish, ex-Fish Commissioner Eugene G..
Blackford was called upon by the Presi-
dent for information with regard to this
peculiar fish, which all of the members
had pronounced as a valuable addition to
the list of good fishes.
THE tilefsh," Mr.. Blackford said, twas
first discovered on hitherto unexplored
ground eighty miles southeast of No
Mans Land, Massachusetts, in 1879, by
Capt. Kirby of Gloucester. A specimen
having been sent to Prof. Baird, 1t was
declared to be a new species of fish, and
an investigation of its habits was at once
made by the United States fish commits
sion steamer Fish Hawk The fish were
found In great abundance off the south
ern coast of New England in seventy-five
to eighty fathoms of water, and upon the
edge of what is known as the continental
plateau, where the sea bottom suddenly
dips downward to the extreme depth of
the ocean. Members of the fish commits
sion and others tested the edible qualities
of the fish, and expressed themselves very
favorably thereon, some describing it as
approaching the striped bass in flavor. I
do not quite agree with this. 1t seemed
to me that it was more like the meat and
flavor Of large blackfsh or tautog.
This fish, which is one of the most
brilliantly colored specimens known out
side of the tropics, is remarkable for the
reason of small dorsal fin resembling
that of the salmon, which is placed on the
neck in advance of the regular dorsal fin,
instead of behind 1t, as in salmon family.
They weigh from ten to fifty pounds
each.
''These facts had scarcely been discov-
cred and digested when In the spring of
1882, vessels arriving at the Atlantic ports
reported sailing through miles and miles
of dead fish off Sandy Hook and south of
Vineyard Sound. A specimen brought i'm
was sent to me for Identification. 1 re-
cognized 1t at once as the tilefish For
several weeks the reports continued of this
mass of dead fish floating in the Atlantic
and il was found to cover an area of 17j
miles long and twenty-five miles broad
after this remarkable event all at
tempts to catch or find the tilefish were
futile, and not until eleven years later, i'm
1898, were there any tilefsh caught. In
the summer of that year United States
Fish Commissioner Mcdonald caught four
specimens, and since then they seem to
have gradually increased About ten days
ago the United States Fish Commission
schooner Grampus was sent out on an ex-
petition, bearing a number of scientmo
men, among whom was DR.. H. C. Bum
pus of Brown University. On their re-
turn they reported that they had found
a large school of tilefish. about seventy
miles south of Vineyard Sound llghtship,
in about seventy fathoms of water. In a
couple of hours fishing they caught about
1000 pounds, so that 1t would look as II
the tilehsh had regained its former plenti-
fulness."