FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 355 



Grampus caught 363 fish, of one-half to 20 pounds in weight, on three trips 

 each of only one to three days' duration. During the next 17 years the tilefish 

 was kept in view by occasional trips to the grounds by the bureau's vessels for 

 that express purpose. On the Grampus, for example, we caught 19, weighing about 

 350 pounds, on August 26, 1914, in one hour's set off Marthas Vineyard in 

 105 fathoms. In October, 1915, the bureau, believing the tilefish capable of 

 supporting an important fishery and knowing it to be an excellent food fish, under- 

 took to popularize it in the market as has been described in the commissioner's 

 report for the year in question, and it proved so plentiful and so easdy caught on 

 the line trawl that the first trip stocked 3S,3S3 pounds in 27 days, although the best 

 bait and the most productive localities were all to be learned. The fishery grew 

 so rapidly at first that the landings for the first eight months after its inception 

 aggregated upward of 4,38S,500 pounds, with a grand total of 11,641,500 pounds 

 from July 1, 1916, to July 1, 1917. But for some reason (and the taste of the con- 

 suming public is hard to analyze) the demand did not hold up; consequently 

 fewer vessels now visit the grounds, and the catches have diminished so that the 

 landings at Massachusetts ports were smaller for the whole of 1919 (188,180 pounds) 

 than for the month of July alone in 1916. And although the market is better in 

 New York, tilefish fishing is not likely to prove regularly profitable except in a small 

 way and for special markets, as long as the price of better known fish, such as cod 

 and haddock, remains as low as it has been for the past few years. 



Habits. — Very little is known of the life history of the tilefish. Presumably 

 it is resident on the grounds throughout the year, for its presence there has been 

 established as early in the season as March and as late as January, while there was 

 no general falling off in the autumn and early winter catches during the one year 

 (1917-18) for which monthly data are available. The length of the period which 

 the fish required to reestablish itself after the mortality of 1882, together with the 

 fact that in 1898 the catch included a considerable number of young fish, is good 

 evidence that the replenishment of the stock was chiefly the result of local repro- 

 duction, though it may have been recruited to same extent by immigration from 

 the southern part of the range, where destruction may not have been as complete 

 as it was north of Delaware Bay. 



It is certain that the eastern limit of the tilefish fluctuates from year to year. 

 Sometimes, as in September, 1898, the fish spread to the south channel (longitude 

 69°). Evermann (1905, p. 85) records the capture of a small one on Banquereau 

 Bank (lat. 44° 26', long. 57° 13'), which is the most easterly and northerly record 

 for the species, but it has never been reported in any numbers east of longitude 69°. 

 In July, 1916, for instance, the Grampus found none on the southwest slope of 

 Georges Bank (long. 68° 15' W.) nor abreast of Marthas Vineyard, but made a 

 fair catch off New York. More thorough study of the movements of the tilefish 

 might show that it works eastward during the summer with the gradual warming 

 of the water, to withdraw to the westward again in autumn or winter, and warm or 

 cold years no doubt largely govern such expansions and contractions of its range. 

 For example, 1916 was a very cold summer in these w T aters. 



