FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



427 



Figure 221. — -Tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) , off Marthas Vineyard. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd 



fishes. In grown fish this flap is as high as the 

 dorsal fin, higher than long, and rounded at the 

 tip. In small fry it is relatively much lower. 

 Equally distinctive, if less conspicuous, is a smaller 

 fleshy flap situated on the side of the lower jaw 

 close to the angle of the mouth, pointing backward 

 (to be seen in the illustration, fig. 221). The large 

 head is strongly convex in dorsal profile but nearly 

 flat in ventral profile, with the eye high up, the 

 mouth wide, and both the jaws are armed with 

 an outer series of large conical teeth and inner rows 

 of smaller teeth. The trunk (moderately flattened 

 sidewise) is deepest close behind the head, tapering 

 thence backward to the sidewise-flattened caudal 

 peduncle. The spiny and soft portions of the 

 dorsal fin are continuous, extending back from 

 above the gill opening almost to the base of the 

 caudal fin, as is the case in cunner, tautog, and 

 rosefish. But the anal fin (14 or 15 rays) of the 

 tilefish is about half as long as the dorsal fin, under 

 the rear (soft-rayed) part of which it stands, 

 and like the latter it is of nearly even height 

 throughout most of its length except that its 

 forward corner is rounded. The ventral fins are 

 located below the pectorals, which are set low 

 down on the sides, and both the pectorals and the 

 ventrals are pointed. The gill covers, as well as 

 the trunk, have moderately large scales. 



Color. — This is a brilliant fish, bluish or olive 

 green on the back and on the upper part of the 

 sides, changing to yellow or rose lower down on 

 the sides; its belly is of the latter tint with white 

 midline. The head is tinged reddish on the sides; 

 pure white below. The back and sides above the 

 level of the pectorals are thickly dotted with 



small irregular yellow spots, which are particu- 

 larly conspicuous below the adipose dorsal flap. 

 The dorsal fin is dusky, marked with similar but 

 larger yellow spots, its soft-rayed portion pale 

 edged. The adipose flap is greenish yellow; the 

 anal fin pale pinkish clouded with purple and with 

 bluish iridescence; and the pectorals are pale 

 sooty brown, with purplish reflections near their 

 bases. 



Size. — Tilefish have been reported up to 50 

 pounds in weight, but this is unusual. The largest 

 fish we have seen (an unripe female) weighed 

 35% pounds and was about 42 inches (108 cm.) 

 long. Measurements taken by Bumpus" and 

 more recently by us on the Grampus show that a 

 40-inch fish may be expected to weigh about 30 

 pounds; fish of 33 to 36 inches, 20 to 21 pounds; 

 and 30- to 32-inch fish, 17 to 18 pounds. 



Habits. — This is a bottom fish, and its depth 

 range off our Atlantic coast is a very narrow one, 

 none ever being taken shoaler than about 45 

 fathoms, 1 and very few much deeper than 100 fath- 

 oms. The deepest definite record with which we 

 are acquainted is 170 fathoms (p. 428), and with 

 the best fishing at 60-90 fathoms. In the Gulf of 

 Mexico it has been caught at 90 fathoms. The 

 thermal range to which the tilefish is exposed, 

 normally, is very narrow also, for the temperature 

 of the bottom water along the zone inhabited 

 regularly by it varies only between about 47° and 

 about 53°, in most years, summer or winter. 

 And it appears to be very sensitive to chilling; 



<> BulJ. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 18, 1899. p. 329. 



• The shoalest we have known any to be trawled was at 43-17 fathoms, by 

 Albatross III, 35 miles southwest of Nantucket Lightship in mid-May 1950. 



