The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-07
OTR FISH MISNAMED.
First Corners TO America Knew Few Names
hut Cod. Basa and Trout.

tlrst tOmers 10 Americz hneN rev Names
hut Cod. BASS and Trout.
The fishes Of the United States are oddly
misnamed, according TO DR.. Theodore
Gill, cooperative worker. with the bureau
OF fisheries. Dr. GIL says:
THE known fishes Of England are few T..
and the early colonists knew few even OF
them. The newcomers were astounded
at the abundance Of the fishes about their
new home. To these numerous fishes they
transferred names Of English species with
which they were more OF less familiar. On
account Of the greater number Of species
common TO the two countries, those who
came from old England TO New England
were not very far astray. but as they or
their SUCCESSORS wandered farther and
farther they made many mistakes. A
few examples will illustrate:
Among the most common Of the English
fishes are the cod, perch. bass and trout.
these names 10 fishes Of the same genera
as the originals, but mostly of different
species. Perch has been used In this coun-
try as a name for very different sorts Of
fishes. In England the name IL specifically
applied to a we'll known fresh water fish.
The immigrants 10 New England found
a fish almost undistnguishable from It,
and gave it the same name. Others gave
IL 10 fishes having no real resemblance.
The so-called white perch Of the Atlantic
coast is, in reality, bass. The silver
perch, the gray perch, the white perch
Of the Ohio River the red perch and the
blue perch are all misnamed
Bass is applied TO many different species
"a ecore OF more. In England It is the
proper name Of marine fish common
only along the Southern coast. A related
species, though Of a different genus, was
nv ha ~
and New York and quite properly called
bass OF striped bass. There are, by the
way, several other species In this country
entitled TO the name, but which, oddly
enough, have been given the names Of
other fish, as for instance. the white perch.
All others are quite remote from the true
bass-even the so-cAlled black BASES
Trout IL another Of the English names
variously misapplied. In the old country
il il given TO single species generally
cold streams, The Pilgrims found in
similar streams in Massachusetts, a fish
somewhat like Il, and called Il by the same
name, although il Izaak Walton had been
among them he might have told them il
was not trout, but char. Others found
in Maine landiocked salmon, and in various
large lakes another good sized salmonid,
and applied TO them also the name OF trout.
Settlers in troutless Southern States, bound
TO give the name 20 some fish, gave IL 20
the kind generally known "a black bass.
Along the Southern coast, too the name
trout, OF sea trout, was given TO entirely
different kinds Of fishes When the Ameri-
cans reached the California coast they
found certain fishes Of a peculiar family.
not at all like trout in shape or fins. but
spotted, and these they also called trout.
stnl another fish, found in the CHA River
slender, large mouthed cyprinid, was
called trout by early explorers and still
bears the name.
But this Is not all, or the worst These
odd names are not only widely scattered
they accumulate. Cod and trout are given
TO the same fish along the Pacific Coast
Another fish IL called rock cod about Puget
Sound. and rock trout and sea trout at
San Francisco