25 S AMERICAN FISHES. 



On the eastern side of the North sea the species has not been seen south 

 of Gothenborg, latitude 58°, but is said to be abundant along the entire 

 western coast of Norway to North Cape and Varanger Fjord in East Fin- 

 mark, while Malmgren records it from Baren Island, and Scoresby from 

 Spitzbergen, in latitude 80°. In Iceland it is abundant, and in Davis' 

 Straits, at least as far north as Disco, where it is found associated with the 

 halibut, and is said to constitute a liberal share of its food. In Eastern 

 Labrador, about Newfoundland, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is 

 abundant, and also along the shores of Nova Scotia and in the Bay of 

 Fundy. In these northern regions the Rose-fish prefers shallow water, 

 and may be taken in the greatest abundance in the bays and around the 

 wharves in company with the sculpins and the cunners or blue perch. On 

 the coast of the United States, south of the Bay of Fundy, they are rarely 

 seen near the shore, but have been found in deep water in all parts of the 

 Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay, and also abundantly south of Cape 

 Cod. In the fall of 18S0 the United States Fish Commission obtained 

 great quantities of them, young and old. DeKay included this fish in his 

 New York list, stating, however, that it was very rare in those waters. 

 He remarks that " the coast of New York is probably its extreme southern 

 limit." 



Of late years none have been taken south of the locality already men- 

 tioned, which was in water from one to three hundred fathoms in depth, 

 at the inner edge of the Gulf stream, from fifty to one hundred miles 

 southwest of Newport, and about the same distance east of Sandy Hook. 

 A hundred or two hundred miles farther south it is replaced by a fish 

 resembling it somewhat in form and color, Scorpcena dactyloptera, De la 

 Roche, discovered by the Fish Commission during the past year, and by 

 Sco7-pcena Steariisi, detected at Pensacola by Silas Stearns, and at Charles- 

 ton by C. H. Gilbert. 



It may fairly be said that the Rose-fish, as a shore species, is not known 

 south of parallel 42°, which is 13° south of its transatlantic limit. When 

 the deep waters of Southern Europe have been as carefully explored as 

 those of the United States, it is probable that the range of this fish will be 

 extended considerably further to the south. 



The temperature range of the Rose-fish corresponds closely to that of 

 the halibut, and its limits will, on more careful study, i)robably be found 

 included between 32° and 50°. It is found everywhere on the shallow 



