506 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



When first hatched, the larvae lie on bottom 

 like young trout or salmon, resting on the yolk; it 

 is not until the latter is considerably reduced in 

 size (several weeks after hatching) that they swim 

 much. And they do no more than dart upward 

 for a few inches and then settle back again until 

 a month old. Thus the wolffish spends the early 

 part of its life close to bottom instead of drifting 

 at the mercy of tide and current, as all fishes do 

 that produce buoyant eggs. Some of the older 

 larvae and the young fry adopt a drifting habit 

 for a time after the yolk is absorbed (we took some 

 20 specimens of various lengths from 21 to 44 mm., 

 in our tow nets during March and April 1920). 

 But it seems that they seldom rise to the upper- 

 most water layers, for only 2 of the 8 hauls that 

 took them were made at the surface, the others 

 were at depths of 30 to 60 fathoms. And as fry 

 no larger than this have been trawled on bottom 

 in European waters, it seems that some do not 

 leave the ground. It follows, then that the 

 wolffish probably is not subject to the long in- 

 voluntary migrations that are carried out by most 

 of the members of the cod and flatfish tribes, but 

 that it passes through its entire larval stage near 

 where it is hatched, hence localities where the 

 young are taken are evidence of local spawning. 

 The brevity of the pelagic stage, if any, also im- 

 plies that the stock of wolffish in any given 

 locality depends on local reproduction for its 

 maintenance. 



In Scottish waters wolffish fry have been taken 

 as long as 5 to 6 inches in July, and up to 7 to 8 

 inches in August, pointing to a rapid rate of growth 

 for the first summer. Nothing is known of the 

 later growth. 



General range. — Both sides of the North At- 

 lantic; north to Davis Strait in American waters; 

 south regulaiTy to Cape Cod; less often to the 

 westward along southern New England, and 

 exceptionally to New Jersey; 6 also Greenland; 

 Iceland; and northern Europe southward to 

 northern France. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Although the 

 wolffish has been recorded at only a few stations 



in the Gulf in scientific literature 6 it is a fairly 

 common fish, to be caught on suitable bottom 

 in all parts of the Gulf, though nowhere in any 

 great numbers. Thus, something like 30,000 

 pounds were taken off western Nova Scotia yearly 

 during the period 1944-1946; 7 scattering fish are 

 caught at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy and 

 around Grand Manan (stray fish only up the Bay, 

 if any); on one occasion, in April 1930, we saw 

 35 of them, 2 to 3 feet long, caught on one set of a 

 long line in 18 fathoms of water off Mount Desert 

 Island; and enough are caught on the small 

 grounds thence eastward to Eastport for 16,000 

 pounds to have been reported from this statis- 

 tical area in 1945. The various small coastwise 

 fishing grounds, westward from Mt. Desert, 

 yield much greater numbers, as reflected in 

 reported landings, for 1945, of 253,000 pounds for 

 central Maine; about 1,400 pounds for Cashes 

 Ledge and the neighboring patches of hard bot- 

 tom, where we have caught them, as we have on 

 Platts Bank also; about 26,000 pounds for western 

 Maine; and about 118,000 pounds reported as 

 taken by the vessel fishery off the coast of Massa- 

 chusetts from the New Hampshire fine to Cape 

 Cod. 



Recent statistical surveys have not been of a 

 sort to localize the catches more precisely than 

 this. But the small-boat fishermen, landed more 

 than 37,000 pounds in Essex County, Mass., in 

 1905, mostly from Jeffreys Ledge, from Stellwagen 

 Bank, and from the deeper rocky spots near 

 Gloucester and Nahant, grounds where fishermen 

 report them as fairly plentiful. And there is no 

 reason to suppose that the situation in this respect 

 has altered subsequently. 



Considerable catches are also brought in from 

 Cape Cod waters, as reflected in landings of 

 233,000 pounds reported for Barnstable County 

 in 1945, about 224,000 pounds for Cape Cod 

 in 1947. 8 



Wolffish are not taken in commercial quantities 

 either to the westward of Nantucket Shoals, or 



• Abbott (Oeol. New Jersey, 1868, p. 818) characterized It as "not unfre- 

 quently met with" of! the New Jersey coast, and Schnakenbeck (Faune 

 Ichth.; Cons. Perm. Intemat. Explor. mer. PI. not numbered, 1933) even 

 outlined Its range as extending southward to Cape Hatteras. But we have 

 heard of none caught to the westward and southward of Vineyard Sound at 

 any time during the past half-century. 



• The deep channel between Georges Bank and Browns; off Cape Sable; 

 in St. Mary Bay; at Grand Manan; at Campobello, at the mouth of the Bay 

 of Fundy; Eastport; Mussel Ridge Channel; Casco Bay; Ipswich Bay; 

 Annisquam; off Gloucester; Massachusetts Bay; North Truro; Nantucket 

 Shoals, and Georges Bank. 



7 Canadian and United States catches combined. 



' We cannot localize these any more precisely. 



