428 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



this having been the probable cause of a mass 

 destruction of tilefish that took place in 1882 (for 

 further discussion, see p. 429). It is not known 

 whether the tilefish is equally sensitive to high 

 temperatures, in any case it could escape such by 

 descending to a greater depth. 



Food. — A great variety of bottom-dwelling 

 invertebrates have been taken from tilefish 

 stomachs. Crabs, of which they are often packed 

 full, are the most important article of diet. The 

 list 2 also includes squid, shrimp, shelled mollusks, 

 annelid worms, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and 

 sea anemones. Occasionally they catch other fish; 

 two spiny dogfish, for instance, were found in one, 

 and an eel (probably a conger or a slime eel) and 

 unidentified fish bones in others. 3 The presence 

 of pelagic amphipods (Euthemisto)* and of salpae 

 in the stomachs of tilefish caught on long lines 

 proves that they sometimes feed at higher levels, 

 but they are never known to rise to the surface 

 voluntarily, and when they are hauled up they 

 are often "poke blown." Tilefish take any bait, 

 perhaps menhaden best, salt herring not so 

 readily. 



Although they are strong active fish, it is 

 probable that they suffer from the attacks of 

 sharks, for fish caught on the long lines are often 

 bitten in two. And we have seen numbers of sharks 

 7 to 8 feet long (species not determined) following 

 them up to the surface, while the line was being 

 hauled. 



Ever since the tilefish was discovered it has 

 been known to spawn in July, and eggs were 

 running from 10 out of 11 females caught by the 

 Grampus off New York on August 3, 1916, while 

 the roe of the eleventh was still unripe. How 

 early the spawning season may open is still to be 

 learned, but August probably sees its close, for 

 the majority of 18 females caught on the 26th of 

 that month in 1914 were spent, only one or two 

 still having running eggs. Among the fish that 

 we have examined, the females have greatly 

 predominated (only 1 male to 29 females in a 

 total of 39 individuals). 



Ripe eggs taken from a tilefish and preserved 

 in formalin measured about 1.25 mm. in diameter. 6 



• Linton, Bull. U. S. Fish Coram., vol. 19, 1901, p. 47; Notes by Vlnal 

 Edwards; and our own observations. 



> The menhaden credited to the diet of the tilefish by Sumner, Osburn, and 

 Cole (Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 31, Pt. 2, 1913, p. 767) were merely the 

 pieces of bait on which the fish had been caught. 



« Collins, Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1882) 1884, p. 244. 



• Eigenmann, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 21, 1902, p. 37. 



As they had an oU globule of 0.2 mm., it is safe 

 to say that they are buoyant, and tow nettings 

 yielded eggs, indistinguishable from those stripped 

 from the tilefish, at the station where we caught 

 the ripe females just mentioned. But the larval 

 stages have not been seen. The fact that a few 

 tilefish of 2}{ to 3K inches were taken along the 

 outer edge of the continental slope in April 1930, 

 and others of 4 to 4% inches in July, suggests that 

 4 to 5 inches is the usual length at one year of age. 6 

 Nothing is known of the subsequent rate of 

 growth, nor at what age the tilefish matures 

 sexually. 



General range. — Outer part of the continental 

 shelf and upper part of the continental edge off 

 Nova Scotia and off the North and Middle Atlantic 

 United States, from Banquereau Bank to the 

 offing of Chesapeake Bay, in depths of 45 fathoms 

 to perhaps 200 fathoms; also reported from 

 southern Florida in more than 100 fathoms, 7 

 and from the Campeche Bank in the southern side 

 of the Gulf of Mexico, whence the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology has received a specimen 

 taken in 90 fathoms by the schooner Seminole on 

 February 1, 1946, 8 and where local fishermen 

 report that they have taken a number. 



Occurrence off Nova Scotia and off the North and 

 Middle United States. — The most easterly and 

 northerly records for the tilefish are of a small one 

 caught on Banquereau Bank (lat. 44°26' N., 

 long. 57°13' W.) in 170 fathoms, December 15, 

 1902, from the schooner Monitor out of Gloucester, 9 

 and of another of 4% pounds that was brought in 

 to Boston in 1933. 10 



Its chief center of abundance is between the 

 offings of Nantucket and of Delaware Bay. 

 And there is some evidence that it ranges farther 

 east in warm years than in cold. In 1908, for 

 example, tilefish were caught off the South Channel 

 (long, about 69°) in September, while in 1950 

 the Albatross III trawled a few at 50-80 fathoms 

 nearly that far east (at longitudes 69°57' to 

 69°35' W.) in May, whereas the Grampus caught 

 none off Martha's Vineyard (long, between 70° 

 and 71° W.) in the very cold July of 1916, but 

 made a fair catch off New York. 



' For details, see Schroeder, Bull. 68, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1931, p. 7. 



' One of 23 pounds, caught off Key West in more than 100 fathoms, is 

 reported by Al Pfleuger, well-known fish taxidermist of Miami. 



 Taken by the schooner Seminole on February 1, 1946. See Bigelow and 

 Schroeder, Copeia, 1947, pp. 62-63, for details. 



• Reported by Evormann, Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1903), 1905, p. 85. 



" Reported to us by J. Webster of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



