Nature.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1702, 3 July 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Nature.

The Tile-Fish. In the spring of 187!) a Gloucester fishing■chooner, accidentally fishing on the GulfS r reatn elope south of New England, found in abundance a fish which later proved to be new, and was described under the name of Lopholatilns ohamaelionticeps, but which the ■ishermen named tile-fish. The fish-com-mission later found that it possessed excellent edible qualities ; and the prospect of thus adding a new fish to our east-coast food-fishes 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 wore seen floating in immense numbers over areas of many square miles. These dead or nearly dead fishes were floating, belly upward, ail the way from off Cape Hatteras toNantucket, and in such numbers that there were in one ease 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 placed 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 species cannot be identified. This great abundance of paralyzed fishes on the surface, without any apparent reason, attracted much attention, and many causes were ascribed to explain the phenomenon. The fish-commission itself made inquiries; and the following startling statistics concerning the number of dead fishes are taken from Capt. 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 fish where the observer reported 400, we still have an astounding total of 71.930, 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 coast 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 the Mexican war, after a very cold night, enough fishes were washed on the beaches in a benumbed condition to furnish food for Gen. Taylor’s whole army. Other cases are recorded where volcanic action has caused similar destruction. Of the theories suggested to explain the destruction, all were discarded but that of cold water. Volcanic action could not be used to explain it, because there was no disturbance; and disease would not account for the 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 ocean 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 seventy to a hundred and fifty fathoms, is so influenced by the Gulf Stream as to have a nearly uniform temperature of about 50 degs, F. the year round. On either side of this halt is one of much colder water. The inner shallow shorewater often descends in winter below 32 degs. F., and beyond to the great ocean-depths the temperature gradually descends. 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. During the spring of 1882, violent and longcontinued easterly and northerly winds prevailed, and numerous ioe-bergs stranded on the George’s Banks just north of the belt. We have every reason for believing that these winds carried the in-shore waters, which 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 case, such delicate animals as the tile-fish could not possibly stand the sudden change which 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 specimen has since been found, either of the tile-fish or the other species. Whether or not they still •exist in waters more southern is an open question ; but we understand that Professor Verrill believes they frill be found there. At any rate, it is certani that they are entirely absent from their former haunts, and that, if they do exist elsewhere, many years must elapse ere Eu,ph S. Tabs, in Scientific American Supplement.