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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



length of 3 feet and a weight of 4 or 5 pounds but 

 the largest we have seen is only 29 inches long. 



General range. — This is a deep-water fish like 

 its relative, but is more northerly in its distribu- 

 tion, being known off northern Norway, Spits- 

 bergen, Iceland, southern Greenland, in Davis 

 Strait, and southward along the continental slope 

 of North America as far as Georges Bank. One 

 has even been found floating dead on the surface, 

 off New York Harbor, but it may have been thrown 

 overboard from a fishing boat returning from the 

 off shore banks. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Three quarters 

 of a century ago, when halibut were more plenti- 

 ful in the Gulf of Maine than they are today, and 

 when vessels, long-lining from Gloucester, still 

 resorted regularly to the deep channel between 

 Georges Bank and Browns Bank as well as to the 

 deep gullies that interrupt the Nova Scotian banks, 

 large grenadiers were often hooked. Fishermen 

 described them as common enough to be a nuis- 

 ance, for they stole the baits meant for other fish 

 and were of no commercial value themselves. It 

 was on the strength of such reports that Goode 7 

 characterized them as "exceedingly abundant on 

 all of our offshore banks." A few were brought 

 in "from off the coast of New England." 8 And 

 our re-examination of three specimens, one taken 

 on the outer edge of either La Have Bank or 

 Banquereau in 1878 a second taken "off New 

 England" in 1880, the third (probably from the 

 Grand Banks) obtained in Boston Market by 

 Prof. G. H. Parker in 1903 8 has proved that ear- 

 lier identifications of them as berglax were correct. 



' Fish. Ind. U. S., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 244. 

 > Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., -vol. 3, 1881, p. 80. 



 These three specimens, the largest 29 inches long, are in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology. 



We have not heard of one, either from Nova 

 Scotian waters or from the Eastern Channel since 

 1903 ; 10 not because they have vanished thence, 

 but simply because very little long-line fishing is 

 now done deep enough off our coasts. And there 

 is always the chance that some vessel, fishing 

 down the slopes of Sable Island Bank, La Have 

 Bank, or southeastern Georges, may pick a few 

 rough headed grenadiers at any time when least 

 expected. 



One hundred fathoms may be set as about their 

 upper limit ; most of those caught have been from 

 100 to 300 fathoms on both sides of the Atlantic; 

 and they have been taken as deep as 677 fathoms 

 by the Albatross off the southeast slope of Georges 

 Bank. They are supposed to feed on small fish 

 and on Crustacea but we find no definite record of 

 the contents of then- stomachs. Females with the 

 roe nearly ripe have been taken off northern 

 Norway in May, suggesting that this is a spring 

 spawner, but nothing definite is known of its 

 breeding habits. 



Long-nosed grenadier Coelorhynchus carminatus 

 (Goode) 1880 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2588. 



Description. — This species resembles the com- 

 mon grenadier (p. 243) so closely in its general 

 appearance that there is danger of mistaking it 

 for the latter; but it is identifiable by the facts 

 that its dorsal spine is perfectly smooth and that 

 its first dorsal fin is rounded instead of triangular; 

 and that its snout not only overhangs the mouth 

 slightly farther, but is thinner tipped. 11 



10 The most recent record with which we are acquainted is of one 16 inches 

 long that we trawled on the southeastern slope of Georges Bank, at 500 

 fathoms, June 1949, on Caryn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



11 Commonly described as "sturgeon-like," but this characterization applies 

 better to other members of the genus which have still longer snouts. 



Figure 121.— Long-nosed grenadier (Coelorhynchus carminatus), continental slope off Marthas Vineyard. From Goode 



and Dean. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



