2 6o AMERICAN FISHES. 



of small fish, crustaceans, and, to some extent, of mollusks, although its 

 teeth are formed for crushing the thick-shelled species. In Greenland they 

 are said to feed upon the pole-flounder. A specimen taken off Eastern 

 Point, Gloucester, in July, 187S, had its throat full of shrimp-like crusta- 

 ceans [Mjsis, sp.), and others, taken at Eastport, were feeding extensively 

 on a larger crustacean i^Thysanopoda, sp.), which is also a favorite food of 

 the mackerel. They may be caught with almost any kind of bait, but are 

 not, like their associates, the cunners, given to feeding upon refuse 

 substances, and, being also more shy and watchful, cannot be captured in 

 bag-nets. They breed in summer, from June to September, in deep holes 

 in Massachusetts Bay and off the coast of Southern New England, where 

 it has not been uncommon for the Fish Commission to obtain thousands of 

 young ones, two and three inches long, at one set of the trawl-net, and 

 also adults full of spawn. The young are lighter in color than the adults, 

 and are conspicuously banded Avith reddish-brown upon a grayish ground. 

 The young constitute a favorite food of the codfish, while, at all ages, they 

 are preyed upon- by the halibut and other large predaceous fishes of the 

 cold-water districts. 



Although the Rose-fish is much esteemed as an article of food, and is 

 caught in considerable numbers all along the coast of Maine and the 

 British Provinces in the season when it frequents the shallows near the 

 shore, and in winter at Gloucester when flocking in large numbers into the 

 harbor, the most extensive fisheries are probably on the coast of Green- 

 land, where they are highly prized by the natives, who feed on the flesh 

 and use the spines of fins for needles, and in Massachusetts Bay, where 

 great quantities are taken by the Irish market-fishermen on trawling-lines. 

 In winter they are occasionally found in the New York markets, and on 

 one or two occasions have been brought in considerable numbers to New 

 Haven, and even to Philadelphia. The flesh is firm, rich, and delicate in 

 flavor ; the young fish, fried crisp, make an excellent substitute for white- 

 bait. 



The naturalists on the "Albatross" sometimes have a famous dish of 

 this sort set before them, when the trawl net has brought up bushels of 

 the young Rose-fish from the ocean depths. 



The writer once had the pleasure of testing the flavor of this species 

 under peculiarly favorable circumstances. It was during the Fisheries 

 Exhibition of 1883, and the occasion was thus described at the time in the 

 London " Times." 



