FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 333 



Bay and Cape Hatteras, it appears that they move out to sea to winter on the outer 

 part of the continental shelf as do several other common Gulf of Maine fishes. 



The illustrations of larvae 2.1 and 3.4 mm long credited by Kuntz and Radcliffe 

 (1918) to the butterfish and reproduced by Bigelow and Welsh (1925, fig. 116, c and d) 

 have since been proved to belong to one of the hakes. 



Harvestfish, Peprilus alepidotus (Linnaeus) 



Five or six specimens were reported caught in floating traps at Richmond Island, 

 off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in July 1929, while another was taken at the mouth of 

 the Damariscotta River, Maine, in August 1933, the most northerly record for 

 the species. 



Striped bass, Roccus lineatus (Bloch) 



The striped bass considerably increased in abundance along both shores of Cape 

 Cod between 1928 and 1932, then decreased again as illustrated by the following 

 catches reported for Barnstable County, Mass.: 1928, 8,060 pounds; 1929, 18,665 

 pounds; 1930, 27,385 pounds; 1931, 33,600 pounds; 1932, 30,926 pounds; 1933,4,500 

 pounds. Anglers as well as commercial fishermen have also caught some numbers 

 along the Eastham-Chatham Beaches and marshes during the past few j^ears, while 

 a 44% pound bass was caught near Brant Rock on the southern shore of Massachu- 

 setts Bay, in November 1930. A small stock seems also to have built up in the brack- 

 ish tributaries of Plum Island Sound north of Cape Ann, for some were taken in 

 Parker River by anglers during the few years previous to 1930, while in that year 

 (when fishing restrictions were relaxed) 8,700 pounds were reported thence, though 

 smaller numbers since then. But this increase did not extend northward beyond 

 Massachusetts waters, for the commercial reports from the States of New Hampshire 

 and Maine did not mention bass at all in 1924, or in 192S-33. 9 



Striped bass so rarely stray away from the immediate shoreline that it is of 

 interest to mention the capture of a 6-pound fish in a gill net on Cod Ledge, 3 or 4 

 miles off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, October 15, 1931. 



Sea bass, Centropristes striatus (Linnaeus) 



Sea bass are seldom taken within the Gulf of Maine, and even on the southern 

 New England coast are rarely caught later than early November, hence the reported 

 capture of a 5-pound fish in December 1930, 5 imles east of Pollock Rip Lightship, 

 in 24 fathoms, is noteworthy. 



Trigger fish, Balistes carolinensis Gmelin 



Previous to 1925, only one specimen of the trigger fish had been reported from 

 the Gulf of Maine. Actually, this species must drift over the offshore rim of the 

 gulf more often than the paucity of early records would suggest, for a specimen was 

 recorded from Casco Bay in August 1931 ; another was taken in 1932 near Plymouth; 

 a third, 15 inches long, was gaffed at the surface, on the southeast part of Georges 

 Bank, from the fishing vessel Huntington Sanford, in July 1929; and two small fry, 

 2 to 3 inches in length, were picked up on the northeast part of the bank in mid- 

 September 1927, by the Albatross II. The fact that these last were taken with gulf 

 weed (Sargassum) suggests that triggerfisli are most apt to appear on the banks with 

 the latter. 



! No statistics are available for 1925-27. 



