nature.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1157, 27 June 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

nature.

The Tile-Fish.

In the spring of 1879 a Gloucester fishingpohooner, accidentally fishing on the GulfStream slope south of New England, found in abundance a fish which later proved to be new, and was described under the name of Lopholatilus ohamaeliontioeps, but which the fishermen named tile-fish. The fish-com-mission later found that it possessed excellent edible qualities ; and the prospect of thuß adding a new fish to our east-coast iood-fiahea created a stir at the time. So bright were the prospects, that a fishingvessel was even being fitted out, for the purpose of catching this new fish, when, in the early spring of 1882, reports were brought in by vessels that dead tile-fishes were seen floating in immense numbers over areas of many square miles. Theae dead or nearly dead fishes were floating, belly upward, all the way from off Oape Hatteras to Nan tucket, and In such numbers that there were in one case estimated to be fifty in a square rod. As they weighed from five to fifty pounds, even allowing for exaggeration, the sight must have been strange. They were examined, and found to be perfectly healthy, and some were eaten. All were not dead, but some seemed to be benumbed ; and, when plaoed | in the sun on deck, they revived sufficiently to move the muscles slightly. There were some other fishes among them in a similar condition ; but, as none were saved, the speoies cannot be identified. This great abundance of paralyzed fishes on the surface, without any apparent reason, attracted much attention, and many oauses were ascribed to explain the phenomenon. Thefish-oommission itself made inquiries; and the following startling statistics concerning the number of dead fishes are taken from Oapt. Collins official report. They covered 4,250 square miles ; and, if one-twentieth of the number recorded by the man who saw the most be taken as an average number for the area, we have a total of 1,438,720.000 fishes. Even if we allow only one fiah where the observer reported 400, we still have an astounding total of 71,936, 000 fishes. Taking ten pounds to be the average weight, we find that there were 719,360,000 pounds of dead fish on the surface. The extreme abundance of these fishes was never imagined before their destruction. This destruction is not without parallel ; for in certain bays on the ooast of Labrador, when icebergs have grounded, cod have been killed in great numbers by the sudden decrease of temperature, and their bodies washed ashore. In Texas, during tha Mexican war, after a very oold night, enough fishes were washed on the beaches in a benumbed condition to furnish food for Gen. Taylor's whole army. Other cases are reoorded where voloanio action has caused similar destruction. Of the theories suggested to explain the destruction, all were discarded but that of oold water. Volcanic action could not be used to explain it, beoause there was no disturbance ; and disease would not account for th<; phenomenon, because all the fishes were perfectly healthy. The tile fish is a warm- water fish, and belongs to a family which is peculiarly a tropical group^ The part of the ooean which these fishes inhabit is a portion of the rapidly sloping Gulf-Stream slope. A narrow belt in this legion, having a depth of from Beventy to a hundred and fifty fathoms, is so influenced by the Gulf Stream a? to have a nearly uniform temperature of about 50 degs. F. the year round. On either side of this belt id one of muoh colder water. The inner shallow shorewater often descends in winter below 32 degs. F., and beyond to the great ocean-depths the temperature gradually desoends. This belt, being so much warmer and more uniform in temperature, is, as a natural consequence, inhabited by a different fauna ; in fact, by a tropical deep-sea fauna, an extension of that of the West Indies. Not only the tile-fish, but certain crustaceans, are examples of these. Naturally they would be sensitive to cold. Daring the spring of 1882, violent and longoontinued easterly and northerly winds prevailed, and numerous ice-bergs stranded on the George's Banks jast north of the belt. We have every reason for believing that these winds carried the in-shore waters, whioh were naturally cold, but whose temperature had been lowered by the stranded bergs, across the border-line and into the warm area. If this were the oase, Buoh delicate animals as the tile-fish oould not possibly stand the sudden change whioh their more hardy neighbors could easily live through. So it was that the tile-fish and a few other speoies were exterminated from these grounds. Although the fish-commission has organized many extensive expeditions for the sole purpose of searching after the tile-fish, not a single speoimen has since been found, either of the tile-fish or the other speoies. Whether or not they still exist in waters more southern is an open question ; but we understand that Professor Verrill believes they will be found there. At any rate, it is certain that they are entirely absent from their former haunts, and that, if they do exist elsewhere, many years must elapse ere they inhabit this bank again in abundance. Such sudden changes as these, and local extinotion of several species by such simple means, oannot help throwing muoh light upon paleontologioal geology. Ralph S. Tabb, in Scientific American Supplement.