Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-06
VANISHED DENTZEN
OF DEEP RETURNS
TO TEMPT EPICURE
Tile Fish, Beautiful, Palatable
and Cheap in Cost, Again
Sports in Countless Num-
bers Off Jersey Coast
ROMANCE OF SEA LIFE

This is that rara avis, a true fish story.
:, concerns the introduction TO Phlladel-
.hio housewives Of the tile FISH, TO this
market an entirely new food fish of
,oothsome quality, comparable to halibut
IN 6rmness Of flesh and taste, which,
vben first put on sale in Philadelphia to-
morrow will materially reduce the cost
NJ living, since it can be sold at less
rate per pound than halibut because 1t
IA found in very large quantities within
70 miles from the New Jersey coast.
Philadelphia will be the natural market
for the distribution and handling of this
new sea food for n large territory.
The tile fish runs from 10 to so pounds
IN weight II is as beautiful to look upon
as specked brook trout and Is perhaps
the most tropically colored large fish
caught in Northern waters. Its dorsaI
Ans are OF delicate transparent cream
and rose color. the back soft blush
pray graduating to white as il approaches
The lower part Of the body. the whole
covered with yellow and rosy spots. The
head is a delicate yellowish red.
The only specimen now in Philadelphia
weighs a pounds. and measures four feet
FIVE inches in length. Hanging in front
OF the establishment of NJ. +. Hewlett.
wholesale fish dealer. at the corner OF
Water and Dock streets today, 1t at
,ractcd the attention OF every passcrby,
rs well MS OF many hsh dealers in the
leighborhood. who made inquiries as to
The kind of fish il was.
The original discovery of this large
handsome, and potentially valuable food
fish, it's practical determination, and re-
cent re-establishment, all within space
OF Is years is one Of the remarkable stories
Of marine biology. As far as is known,
man never saw this fish until May, 1879
when Captain Joseph Kirby, of the Glou-
cester fishing schooner William V. Hutch
ins, while fishing near 100-fathom curve,
south of Nantucket. caught several thou
sand pounds of strange and handsome
colored fish," to use his own words. He
sent specimens to the United States Fish
Commission In Washington. where it was
Officially found to be new, and described
and named lopholatilus chamoeleonticeps
meaning the crested titus with n head like
A chameleon.
The then Commissioner of Fisheries at |
Washington appreciated the economic OPP |
portunites offered by the discovery of the |
lie fish. and began an investigation to de- |
ermne the feasibility of stablishng a |
Government fishery. but before very much |
,ould be done the tile fish was virtually |
,xterminated by n mysterious disaster
dong the entire edge of the coastal slope.
Some years afterward, while the Gulf |
,tream was still "off soundlnEs." investi- |
,ation showed il was gradually reap
the coast. Calculations were
made to the effect that In 1892 II would he
owing In it's old depth OF stratum again
nd bathe the northern coast of the New
.ngland States and the coast off the New
ersey shore where the tile fish had
bounded. This conclusion became a re-
lily when the fisheries schooner Gram
US in the summer Of that year caught a
aw tile fish on the old grounds, although
ersstent search for all the previous
ears had failed to produce a single spec.
men.