Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-10-20
THE TILE FISH !.



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IBosto~ Transcrips.l
New England waters are contributing q
new edible fish to the market, OF which
the bureau Of fisheries thinks 90 highly
that 1t has published no less than dozen
recipes telling housewives how to cook it.
OF the tragedies which occur in the sea
and the disasters which befall the iowly
dwellers therein we know but little, and
the brief but tragic history Of the tilefish,
therefore, has peculiar interest. The dis
covery, the almost complete extermina-
ton, and the rapid re-establishment OF
this large, handsome, and potentia lily
valuable species, all within the space OF
less than fifteen years, is one Of the re-
markahle stories of marine biology.
| So far as is known, man had never seen
this Ash until May, 1879, when Captain
Kirby, Of the fishing schooner William v.
Hutchins, while fishing near the hundred
fathom curve, south of Nantucket, caught
several thousand pounds OF q ''strange and
handsomely colored fish,. He sent a
specimen to the United States Fish Com
mission, where it was found to be new
and was described and named lopho-
latilus chamaleonticeps. This name,
which means the crested titus with hea
like . chameleon, may be used, after q
little practice, with more or less facility
by men OF science, but for every day use
something shorter was needed, so the de-
scriber exercised the Adamite privilege OF
a discoverer and perpstrating . pun on
the fourth syllable OF the frst name,
called 1t sstile" fish. The fact that the
fish was new was interesting, but what ex-
cited most attention was that it existed
in enormous numbers within . short dis
lance OF the coast and that its edible
qualities were OF high order.
Professor Baird, the commissioner OF
fisheries. at once appreciated the economic
opportunity afforded by the discovery, and
began investigations to determine the
location OF the fishing grounds, and the
feasibility Of establishing . fishery, but
before much could be done the tile
fish was apparently practically exter-
minated by . mysterious disturbance
along the edge OF the coastal slope.
The first news Of this disaster came in
March, 1882, when the master CT vessel
reported that he had sailed for sixty nine
miles through q mass OF dead and dying
fish floating at the surface. His first
statement was that they covered dis
lance of fifteen miles, explaining later he
feared to put his reputation for veracity
in jeopardy il he stated the whole truth.
Other vessels in March and April OF the
same year reported similar experiences,
and from the various accounts it was esti-
mated that the dead fish covered an area
OF ITO miles long and twenty-five miles
wide, and that upwards OF lao, 000, 600
tilefish had persisted.
What killed them is not certain, but in
the bottom, made by the bureau both be-
fore and since the Occurrences, indicate that
it may have been due to . sudden chilling
OF the water. The tilefish, like the cod, is
. bottom dweller; but, unlike tho cod, it
. is OF . family accustomed to the warmer
waters OF the tropics. II finds 4 congenial
temperature where the edge Of the Gulf
Stream touches the sea bottom on slope
% steep ~ mountain side, and there 10,
therefore, only marrow "trip ON which
the water 10 neither too shallow nor too
deep. The Gulf Stream ID . great warm
oceanic river flowing between banks Of
cold water, not fxed like tbs solid banks
Of land streams but pushed one way or
the other - the path OF the stream ap-
proaches or recedes from the coast. There
il evidences that about the time OF the
defamation OF the tilefsh the Gulf Stream
was receding, and ~ 1t moved oflshore ito
warmth no longsr reached ths bottom,
and the ish and other animals dwelling
there were left in the chilly waters which
took ito place.
1t Is reasonable to suppose that being
rine climate they were killed BY ths cold
wave which developed them. A few years
afterwards, while the Gulf Stream was
still "on soundings', Investigations
showed that it was again gradually ap-
preaching the coast, and 1t was predicted
that in 1892 it would be flowing over .
depth in which ita deep stratum would
again ba.he the bottom Of the New Eng
land coast, on which the tile-fis formerly
had abounded. The prediction came true,
and the fsheriss schooner Grampus, in
the summer Of that year, caught . few
iish on the old grounds, although . per-
sistent search in the preceding ten years
had failed to reveal . single specimen.
Evidently the return Of congenial con-
ditions caused the fish to immigrate from
areas in which the mortality had not been
SO complete, probably farther south along
the coast.
Whether the straying OF the Gulf
Stream was or was not responsible for the
mortality suffered ten years before, the re-
turn Of the current to its old course was
coincident with the the recurrence OF the
tilefsh. which has yearly increased in
numbers In its old haunts until now it lie
apparently ~ numerous a. ever. The
Bureau Of Fisheries believes it to be