The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

along the New England coast In the sum-
mer, but such Is far from being the case.
II is in fact u denizen of warm seas, chiefly
Of the western Atlantic, and while not plenti-
Tul rs captured every year by fishermen. The
largest specimen recorded from New Eng
land waters was taken at Newport in 1901
anu a attained tho highly respectable
length OF 3 feet 8 inches.
or the pompanos genus, numbering If
teen varieties, onlv two are fairly common
along the Rhode Island coast, the other
thirteen deserving to be classed with fish
which yield TO the seductions of the Gulf
Stream to stray on "a long journey from
their tropical home. These are all small
fish. 'N
One Of them has gained fame and a name
as the pilot fish, which figures in sea stories
as tho guide of sharks. Three specimens
from Newport may be seen in the United
States National Museum.
The Portuguese nan Of war fish IL said TO
have got its name from the fact that it was
found about a Portuguese nan Of war on the
occasion when il was first classified. II is
plentiful in the tropical parts Of the Allan
ito and Indian oceans in rather deep water,
the surface OF which IL frequents. and ia
especially abundant in the Sar~asso Sea.
The king OF the mullets, one Of the car
dinal fishes. il included in the Rhode Island
list from h circumstance of a sin lie speci-
men captured at Newport nearly forty years
s~o. 1t may safely re set down as a Gulf
Stream wanderer and one Of the rarest,
II not actually the rarest, Of its class.
Passing hastily down the record there
Is noted among n sea bases the snowy
grouper, which is at hone : etween Brazil
and the West Indies, but not ~infrequently
finds itself in a net Of Cape Cod. Jud ing
from those taken north It Is a tiny fish,
from an inch and a quarter to two and
th~ree-auarters inches long, not readily
identified as closely related to that mag
nifcent f~hter the striped bass, which has
reached liz pounds.
The trirle tail Ii represented in northern
waters by only six specimens in twenty
years, the largest Of which weighed six
pounds and was taken of Prudence Island
in Narragansett Bay Ave years ago. The
big eye, the gray snapper and the COW
pilot are of about equal rarity. ANGEL fishes,
butterfly fishes and trigger fishes may
hardly be taken in along lifetina Of angling,
while the froghsh, although partial to a
warm climate, is fairly familiar to the IN
v~estigators at Woods Hole.
Mr.. Tracy characterizes this as one Of
the most Interesting Of visitors from south
ern waters. 1t Ia usually found swimming
under the bits Of gulf weed which drift in
from the Gulf Stream 10 summer and autumn
during long east and southeast blows.
The frogish furnishes a striking ex-
ample Of protective colorins. 1t has a
notified skin. to which are attached many
Harmonious appendsges, giving the fish
such a resemblance to the gulf weed in
which II floats that it is effectively hidden
from its enemies.
While clumsy in It's movements it is adept
at approaching and capturing other fish.
it L, cannibalistic in its habits, frequently
biting off the feshy dermaI ~appendages
os its fellows, and one six inches long has
been known to make q meal from another
four inches long.
Although several specimens have been
taken at Woods Hole and Nantucket Shoals
there are records Of only two in Rhode
Island waters, both having been trapped
at the mouth Of the Sakonnet River within
SIX daya Of one another. Weather condi-
lions preceding and during the time Of
their capturs furnish substantial proof
Of the theory that these and other ~infrecuent
visitors from the tropics are carried north
ward u~nwillingly in the great ocean river.
A heavier wind than ordinary had been
blowing from southwest % northwest for two
weeks, rho velocity and direction Of which.
1t is believed. drove the coating masses of
gulfweed northward and into the big pocket
formed by the CONFORMATION OF tho New
England coast. And therein lies the Az
PLANTATION Of the appearance Of nearly all
our Odhv~ visitors from the south.