REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 39 



impossible to adequately understand the life history of many of our 

 important food fishes, most of which are pelagic and migratory in their 

 habits during a considerable portion of their existence, unless the fish 

 fauna of the open water is included in our investigation. Further- 

 more, the offshore fisheries between Newport and Sakonnet, and those 

 of Block Island, are of great importance to the citizens of Rhode 

 Island ; and the rich variety of rare species already known to have 

 been taken in those waters is of great scientific interest. For these 

 reasons this list takes account of every species of fish which has been 

 known to be present in the waters of Rhode Island, using that term 

 broadly to include, besides Narragansett Bay and the fresh-water 

 streams of the State, the open waters of the ocean bordering on the 

 southern shores of the State and of Block Island. 



In these open waters is found a fauna of remarkable richness and 

 variety. Cape Cod forms a general boundary between the Arctic 

 fauna of the north Atlantic coast and the temperate fauna which 

 extends south to Cape Hatteras. Therefore, many species belong- 

 ing to each of these regions are normally present in greater or less 

 abundance in the marine waters of our State. The edge of the Gulf 

 Stream, also, is scarcely over a hundred and fifty miles from our coast, 

 and hence each year in the summer and early autumn a great number 

 of tropical species are brought to our shores from regions far to the 

 south. It is a characteristic feature of this element in our fauna that 

 many of the species constituting it are represented in our waters 

 solely or chiefly by their young. The explanation of this probably 

 lies in the fact that the eggs and pelagic young of such fishes as spawn 

 in the open water of the tropics drift passively northward in the 

 current of the Gulf Stream. The adults, however, on account of 

 their better developed swimming powers, are less likely to be carried 

 far from their natural habitat. 



In the appendix to this list of fishes are given the names of certain 

 species which will serve to illustrate how the fauna of our waters is 

 enriched by contributions from the tropics. These species were taken 

 by the United States Fish Commission while investigating the extent 



