Rotes apon Nev ^lorl^ Pi5t)e5 



Received at tl)e New ^.ovh, Aq[,ttariam, 1^95 to 16 97. 



I 



Bv TARLETON H. BEAN. 

 [Reprinted by permission from Bulletin American Museum Natural History, 1897, pp. 327-375.] 



SINCE May i, 1895, the Aquarium has received 165 species of the fishes of 

 New York, of which 124 species are marine or anadromous, and the rest 

 fresh-water forms. The marine fishes have been collected chiefly in Graves- 

 end Bay, Long Island, in the traps and other fishing apparatus belonging to John B. 

 De Nyse, a veteran fisherman, whose knowledge of the migrations of coast fishes and 

 of the history of the fishery in that bay is extensive and accurate. Many rare species 

 that would escape the notice of the average observer are recognized and sent to 

 the Aquarium, usually alive, by Mr. De Nyse and his sons. 



The writer has made occasional excursions to Shinnecock and Peconic Bays, Sandy 

 Hook and the ocean beach at Southampton, Long Island, the Bronx River, and to 

 several lakes in Central Park and Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The New York Commis- 

 sion of Fisheries, Game and P'orests has contributed man}- species, both living and 

 dead, for exhibition or identification, and additional materials have come from the 

 South Side Sportsinen's Club of Long Island, and from James Annin, Jr., of Cale- 

 donia, N. Y. 



It is well known that systematic seining along the shores in the vicinity of New 

 York Cit)' would add many species to this list, but the present exhibit will serve to 

 indicate the wealth of the marine fish fauna at least, and, at the same time, introduce 

 a number of species of rare occurrence or new to the region. The short-nosed stur- 

 geon {Acipenscr brcvirostris) has been living in one of the pools since May, 1896, and 

 has taken hard clams {J'ciiits inerccnaria) regularly for food. 



A species of Harengitla was caught at Gravesend Bay in. 1895. No species of the 

 genus has been known to occur north of the Gulf of Mexico before. Hoy's whitefish 

 {Argyrosoinus Jtoyi) has been taken only in Lake Michigan until Mr. Annin found it in 

 Canandaigua Lake, New York, where it is abundant. The fresh-water silverside 

 iyMcnidia beryHiua), previously known and rather rare in the Potomac River, is common 

 in a little stream at Water Mill, Long Island. The thread-fin {Polydactylns octoneniis), 

 which has not been observed in our waters for thirty years, was secured in Gravesend 

 Bay, September 24, 1896. Three examples were obtained. The surmullet (J/;///«5 

 auratus), an occasional visitor from southern waters, ranging north to Cape Cod, was 



