356 ■ BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Food. — The capture of tilefish on trawl and hand lines on bottom proves that 

 it is a ground fish, as does the nature of its food, for a great variety of bottom- 

 dwelling invertebrates have been taken from tilefish stomachs. Crabs, of which 

 they are often packed full, are the most important article of diet. The list '" also 

 includes squid, shrimp, shelled mollusks, annelids, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and 

 anemones. Occasionally they catch other fish, two spiny dogs, for instance, 

 having been found in one, and an eel (probably a conger or a slime eel) and uniden- 

 tified fish bones in others." The presence of pelagic amphipods (Euthemisto)'^ and 

 of salpae in the stomachs of tilefish caught on trawl lines proves that they sometimes 

 feed at higher levels, but they are never known to rise to the surface voluntarily 

 and when hauled up they are often "poke blown." 



Tilefish take any bait — perhaps menhaden best, salt herring not so readily. 

 Although they are strong active fish it is probable that they suffer from the attacks 

 of sharks, for fish caught on the trawl lines are often bitten in two, and we have 

 seen numbers of sharks 7 to 8 feet long (species not determined) follow them up 

 to the surface while the line was being hauled. 



Breeding Jiahits. — Ever since the tilefish was discovered it has been known to 

 spawn in July, and eggs were running from 10 out of 11 females caught by the 

 Grampus off New York on the 29th in 1916, while the roe of the eleventh was still 

 unripe. How early the spawning season may open is still to be learned, however, 

 though August probably sees its close, for among 18 females caught on the 26th of 

 that month in 1914 the majority were spent, only one or two still having running 

 eggs. ' Among the fish that we ourselves have examined females have greatly pre- 

 dominated (only 1 male to 29 females in a total of 30 individuals). 



It is safe to say that the eggs are buoyant and about 1.35 mm. in diameter, for 

 the tow net yielded eggs of this size, indistinguishable from those stripped from the 

 ripe fish, at the station where the ripe females just mentioned were caught; but the 

 larval stages have not been seen, nor is anything known of the rate of growth or 

 of the age of the tilefish at maturity. 



Commercial importance. — This is one of the better, though not the choicest, 

 food fishes, good boiled or baked, and delicious for chowder. It also makes a good 

 smoked fish, and the sounds are valuable for isinglass. 



THE TOADFISHES. FAMILY BATRACHOIDID.ffi; 



These fishes are somewhat sculpin-like in appearance, but the resemblance is 

 only superficial, for the ventral fins are situated on the throat well in front of the 

 pectorals ("jugular"), and there are only three gills and gill arches. Both soft 

 and spiny portions of the dorsal are present as separate fins, the former much longer 

 than the latter. Most of the species belong to warm seas, only one reaching the 

 Gulf of Maine. 



>» Linton (Bulletin, United States Fish Commission, Vol. XIX, 1899 (1901), p. 471), notes by Vinal Edwards, and our own 

 observations. 



" The menhaden credited to the diet of the tilefish by Sumner, Osburn and Cole (1913, p. 767) were merely the pieces of 

 bait on which the fish were caught. 



"Collins, 1884b, p. 244. 



