nature. The Tile-Fish.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2045, 15 August 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

nature. The Tile-Fish.

In the spring of 1879 a Gloucester fishingaooidentally fiahing on the GulfStieam slope south 0/ New England, found in abundance a fish whioh later proved to be new, and waa described under the name of Lopholatilus chamaelionticeps, but whioh the fishermen named tile fish. The fish commission later found that it possessed .■xcellent edible qualities ; and the prospect of thus adding a new fish to oar east-coast food-fishes created a stir at the time. So bright were the prospects, that a fishingvessel waß even being fitted out, for the purpose of oatohing this now 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. These dead or nearly dead fishes were floating, belly upward, all the way from off Oape HatteraH toNantncrket, 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 perfeotly 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 oh the surfaoe, without any apparent reason, attracted touch attention, and many oauses were ascribed to explain the phenomenon. The fish-commission Hfylf made inquiries; and the following startling statistics oonoerning the number of dead fishes are taken from Gapt. Collins offioial 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 whpre th 9 observer reported 400, we still have an astounding total of 71,936, 000 fishes. Taking ten pounds to be the avprage weight, we find that there were 719,360,000 pounda 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 Tpxas, during the Mexioan war, after a very cold night, enough fishes were washed on the beaches in a benumbed condition to furnish fond for Gen. Taylors whole army. Other oases are recorded where volcanic action has caused similar destruction. Of the theories suggested to explain the destruction, all wpr y e discarded but that of cold water. Volcsmo action oould not be used to explain it, because there was no disturbance ; and disease would not account for the phenomenon, because all the fishes were perfeotly healthy. The tile fish is a warm-water fi&h, and belongs to a family which is peculiarly a tropical group. The part of the ocean which these fishes inhabit is aportionof therapidly 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 tither bide of this btlt is ono of muoh colder water. The inner shallow shorewater often descends in winter below 32 de?a F., and beyond to the great ocean-'lppths the temperature gradually desoends. This belt, being bo much warmer and more uniform in temperature, is, &3 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-fiah, but oertain 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-bergy stranded on the George's Banks just north of the belt. We have every reason for believing that these winds oarried 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 delioate aoimals as the tile-fish oonld not possibly stand the sudden ohange which their more hardy neighbors oould easily live through. So it was that the tile-fish and a few other species 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 species. 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 ohangea as these, and looal extinction of several species by such simple means, cannot help throwing much light upon paleontologioal geology. Ealph S. Tarh, in Scientific American Supplement.