240 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



130.— OCCURREIVCE OF BffiAt K OROUl^ljlR OR JKW FI8II OFF RLOCK 



By CHAS. ^V. SMILEY. 



On Thursday, May 15, a strange fisli was seen by the crew of the 

 schooner Carrie E. Parsons, Capt. Albert Greenlow, of Gloucester, 

 Mass,, about 20 miles southeast from Block Island. When seen the 

 fish was near the surface of the water, on its side, Mith the side-fin and 

 tail in motion. The men at first thought it was a sunfish. They rowed 

 up to it in a dory, threw a harpoon into it, and towed it alongside the 

 vessel, when it was taken on board and put in the ice-house. It was 

 easily captured. On arriving at Gloucester, May 17, the captain pre- 

 sented it to the representative of the United States Fish Commission, 

 Capt. S. J. Martin, who telegraphed to Professor Baird for instructions 

 as to its disposition. Captaiu Martin states that no one of the hundreds 

 of j)ersons in Glouce^iter who came to see it could identify it. On Mon- 

 day, 19th, it was packed in ice by the Atlantic Halibut Company and 

 forwarded to Washington by express, where it arrived the next day. 

 It was over 6 feet in length and weighed 300 pounds. On May 21 Pro- 

 fessor Baird replied to Captain Martiii concerning it : " The strange 

 fish referred to in your letter was duly received to-day, in excellent con- 

 dition, and proved to be, as I thought it would, the southern jew-fish, 

 the existence of which much farther north than Florida we have not 

 been aware of. The fish itself is not considered, especially when it is 

 large, very palatable, but this specimen answers a very important pur- 

 pose in fixing its geographical distribution. It will also give us an op- 

 portunity of making a plaster cast. We have had a specimen of about 

 the same size from Florida, but I think not in so good preservation." 



Tarleton H. Bean, curator of the Department of Fishes of the United 

 States irrational Museum, under date of May 26, 1884, made the follow- 

 ing report upon the specimen : 



"After having examined the large black grouper which was for- 

 warded from Gloucester last week, I have reached the conclusion that 

 it is Epincphehis nigrittis (Holbrook), a species which Dr. Holbrook, in 

 his Ichthyology of South ^Carolina, published in 18G0, mentioned as be- 

 ing rare and known only in the waters of South Carolina. It has not 

 been known to occur in any waters north of that State, as far as I know. 

 The species is known as the black grouper, and specimens weighing 300 

 pounds have been recorded before; the example received from Gloucester 

 weighed 300 pounds. A cast and the skeleton have been preserved. 

 The fish had evidently strayed away from its natural habitat, and its 

 presence off Block Island must have been accidental." 



United States Fish Commission, June, 1884. 



