FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



243 



fact that the cusk (frequenting rough bottom) is are 70 to 80 times as great by otter trawls as by 



not a good trawl fish. And 80 to 90 percent as long lines. 96 



much cusk (pounds) are caught on long lines as A few cusk are caught from party boats by 



are caught in otter trawls even today (as illus- sportsmen hand lining for ground fish in general, 



trated by 1947), although the yearly landings of but most of the cusk live too deep to be of any 



fish of all kinds in Maine and Massachusetts now particular interest to anglers. 



THE GRENADIERS. FAMILY MACROURIDAE 



The grenadiers are characterized externally by of all the species known from the western North 



having large heads, projecting snouts, and slender Atlantic and from central American seas, 



bodies that taper to whiplike tails, with no defi- _ 



nitely demarked caudal fin. They have two KEY TO GULF OF MAINE GRENADIERS 



dorsal fins, the first high, the second very low l. The dorsal spine is perfectly smooth 



but occupying the greater part of the back. The Long-nosed grenadier, p. 246 



anal fin is nearly as long as the second dorsal, or The dorsal s P ine is crated, with teeth which can be 



, felt if not seen 2 



longer. 



The grenadiers are allied to the cod familv, in 2. The vent is considerably in front of the origin of the 



classification, by the structure of their skull,' but anal Gn > the skin surrounding the vent is naked and 



,, ,.~ . ., , . ., . , black; the dorsal fin spine is strongly serrated 



they differ from the cod tribe in having one stout Common grenadier, p. 243 



spine in the first dorsal fin. They are deep-sea The vent is close to the or ; g ; n f t he anal fin; the skin 



fishes, living on the bottom, loose in texture and around the vent is scaly and pale colored; the serra- 



weak swimmers. Many species are known, but tions on dorsal fin spine are so fine that they are 



only three of them have ever been taken within hard 'y visible > thou s h the y can be fdt --- --- 



,, n , ,, „ „ ••»» . Rough-headed grenadier, p. 245 

 the confines of the Gulf of Maine. 



Besides the species described below, three Common grenadier Macrourus bairdii 



others, C'oryphaenoides rupestris, C. carapinus and Goode and Bean 1877 ' 

 Nematonurus armatus, 97 have been taken on the 



continental slope abreast of the Gulf and off Rat-tail; Marlin-spike 



southern New England often enough to show Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2583. 

 that they are common there below 350 fathoms. 



They are typical inhabitants of the deep-sea floor, Description— This grenadier could hardly be 

 never likely to rise shoal enough to come within mistaken for any other fish except for one of its 

 the limits of the Gulf of Maine. 98 But fish have own tribe, so characteristic is its slender body 

 a way of straying, and if any grenadier should be (flattened sidewise behind the vent and tapering 

 picked up in the Gulf that proves difficult to to a whiplike tail with no definite caudal fin), in 

 identify, we recommend forwarding it either to combination with a pointed snout that overhangs 

 the Laboratory of the Fish and Wildlife Service the mouth; very large eyes; and high first dorsal 

 at Woods Hole, to the U. S. National Museum, fin with one large spine; but very low second dorsal 

 Washington, D. C., or to the Museum of Compar- An. And it has a chin barbel like a cod (not shown 

 ative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., to be named. in the illustration). As noted above, the second 

 Parr " has recently published a detailed synopsis ray of the first dorsal fin is a true spine, serrated 

 along its front edge with about 15 sharp and very 



» Otter trawlers landed about 499 million pounds of flsh of all sorts in noticeable teeth pointing Upwards. 



Maine and Massachusetts in 1947; long liners about 7 million pounds. rp. fi t J,™,,! f, n (o „ t jfp _„„„ fl.„ fi_o+ vprv 



"According to Parr (Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Coll., vol. 10, art. 1,1946, itXe llrSt °- orsal Im ^ Stin rays, Hie nrsi very 



p. 54) this is the correct name of the grenadier that was reported by Ooode short, and 1 1 Softer rays) is triangular, about twice 



"l ( f i t^Z"*' Kn ° WL ' V01 ' 3 °' 1895 ' P ' 4 ° 7) " IIV ™' as hi S h as ifc is lon S; and [t originates over the 



» For descriptions and lists of localities where they were taken during the pectorals, close behind the gill Openings. The 



early cruises by vessels of the U 8 Fish Commission see Ooode and Bean between the two dorsal fins is about as long 



(Smithson. Contnb. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895). In June 1949 we trawled about ^ «*~v ~ o 

 200 rupestris on the slope off southern Nova Scotia and off the southeastern 



face of Georges Bank, at 290-120 fathoms, from Caryn of the Woods Hole ' Parr (Bull., Bingham Oceanogr. Coll., vol. 10, art. I, 1946, p. 37) places 



Oceanographic Institution. this grenadier in the genus Nezumia of Jordan, 1904. But it seems wiser to 



 Bull. Bingham Oceanographic Coll., vol. 10, art. 1, 1946. follow the older and more familiar usage here. 



