FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



275 



Trawlers find yellowtails in even greater num- 

 bers off the southern New England coast than on 

 Nantucket Shoals, at the proper depths, as illus- 

 trated by reported landings thence of about 17% 

 million pounds in 1947. 32 And they are moder- 

 ately plentiful offshore, as far as the offing of 

 New York. 33 But southern New Jersey is about 

 the southern limit to their regular ocurrence. 34 



Turning our attention eastward, we find the 

 yellowtail plentiful all along the outer Nova 

 Scotian banks, where about 2,700,000 pounds 

 were taken in 1947 by vessels from Massachusetts, 36 

 besides about 2){ million pounds by Canadian 

 vessels. 



They are also reported as numerous on the 

 southern part of the Grand Banks from experi- 

 mental trawling by the Newfoundland Fishery 

 Research Commission, but are "not in any num- 

 bers along the Newfoundland coast," 3e so far as 

 is known, though they are recorded from as far 

 north as the Strait of Belle Isle, as already noted 

 (p. 273). They are also distributed generally in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but no information is 

 available as to their numbers there, for none are 

 reported from the Gulf in the Canadian Fisheries 

 statistics. 



The neighborhood of the Isles of Shoals and of 

 Boars Head, at 20 to 30 fathoms, certainly is an 

 important spawning ground for the yellowtails; 37 

 so, too, the edges of Stellwagen Bank where we 

 have caught spawning specimens. In fact, it is 

 likely that yellowtail eggs are produced in abun- 

 dance all around the western and northwestern 

 periphery of the Gulf, between the 20 fathom and 

 50 fathom contours; few, however, in the eastern 

 side, and none in the Bay of Fundy; nor have we 

 found any of its eggs anywhere over depths greater 

 than 50 fathoms. No doubt the yellowtail spawns 

 as actively on the offshore Banks as it does inshore, 

 for though we have not actually found its eggs 

 there we have taken larvae only 7 to 11 mm. long 

 over the western and eastern parts of Georges 



" Landings in 1947 in Massachusetts ports, from grounds westward from 

 Nantucket Shoals, about 12 million pounds; landings in Rhode Island, 

 about 2H million pounds; landings in Connecticut, about 3 million pounds. 



n About 3VS million pounds were landed in New York in 1947. 



u Albatross 11 trawled many yellowtails as far southward as the offing of 

 Delaware Bay Oat. 38° 32' N., long. 74" 24' W.) in 12 to 28 fathoms during 

 February, April, and June, of 1929 and 1930. 



11 The Newfoundland Fishery Research Commission (Rept., vol. 1, No. 4, 

 1932, p. 1 10) reports 680 yellowtails taken per 10 hours trawlingon Banquercau. 



•• Frost, Research Bull. 14, Newfoundland Dept. Nat. Resources, 1940, 

 p. IS. 



" Welsh obtained many ripe fish there. 



Bank in July, 38 as well as near Gloucester and 

 near the tip of Cape Cod in July and August. 



To the eastward and northward, yellowtail 

 spawn on Sable Island Bank, Banquereau Bank, 

 and the Newfoundland Banks, eggs (no doubt of 

 this species) having been collected on these 

 grounds by the Canadian Fisheries Expedition 

 in 1915. 39 In the opposite direction, it certainly 

 breeds as far westward as New Jersey, for our tow 

 net yielded 88 of its larvae (6.5 to 19 mm. long) 

 11 miles off Sandy Hook on August 1, 1913; 

 adult fish approaching ripeness have been trawled 

 as far southward as Little Egg Inlet, N. J., in 

 April 1930. 



Spawning, Welsh found, begins on the Isles 

 of Shoals-Boone Island ground by the middle of 

 March ; and many ripe fish were taken there during 

 the last half of April, but the majority were still 

 green as late in the season as May 8, though 

 others were already spawned out. And spawning 

 must last all summer, for we have trawled many 

 ripe males and females in depths of 17 to 25 

 fathoms on the edge of Stellwagen Bank at the 

 end of July; have taken eggs indistinguishable 

 from those of the yellowtail in our tow nets in 

 June, July, and August, with one even on Sep- 

 tember 1 1 ; and have taken its newly hatched 

 larvae (6 mm. long) off Race Point as late as 

 August 31. And the individual females evidently 

 spawn over a considerable period of time, for 

 Welsh found that only a small part of the eggs 

 ripened simultaneously. 



Importance. — The yellowtail is one of the most 

 valuable of the flatfishes caught within the Gulf 

 of Maine. It compares favorably in quality 

 with the summer flounder and the winter flounder, 

 but because its body is thinner it brings a lower 

 price to the fishermen. Thus in 1947 the average 

 price, as landed in New Bedford, was about 8 to 9 

 cents a pound for yellowtails; winter flounders, 

 about 9 to 10 cents a pound; and summer flound- 

 ers, about 17 to 18 cents a pound. All the yellow- 

 tails that are brought in find a ready sale and they 

 make up a large part of the fillet of sole sold to 

 consumers. In 1947 our Gulf yielded between 

 15 and 16 million pounds of them. But yellow- 

 tails live rather too deep to be of any interest to 

 anglers. 



" Station 10059, July 9, 1913; and station 10224, July 23, 1914. 



» Dannevig (Canadian Fisheries Expedition [1914-15], 1919, p. 17) refers 

 these provisionally to the European dab, which does not occur on our side of 

 the Atlantic. Its egg is indistinguishable from that of the American species. 



