THE TILEFISHES 



Family LXIX. Latilidce 



Body more or less elongate, fusiform or compressed; head 

 subconical, the anterior profile usually convex; suborbital without 

 bony stay; cranial bones not cavernous; opercular bones mostly 

 unarmed; mouth rather terminal, little oblique; teeth rather strong, 

 none on vomer or palatines; premaxillaries protractile, each usu- 

 ally with a blunt, posterior canine; maxillary without supple- 

 mental bone; pseudobranchiae well developed; gill-membranes 

 separate, more or less free from the isthmus; scales small, 

 ctenoid; lateral line present, complete, more or less concurrent 

 with the back; dorsal fin long and low, usually continuous, the 

 spinous portion always lower than soft part, but never obsolete; 

 anal very long, its spines few and feeble; caudal fin forked. 



Fishes of temperate and tropical waters, some reaching a large 

 size. The 2 genera are Caulolatilits and Lopholatilns, the former 

 with 22 to 27 rays in the dorsal and anal, the latter with only 13 

 to 15. 



Caulolaliliis contains 3 species, the blanquillos, 2 of which 

 occur among the West Indies, the other on the Pacific Coast. 

 None is of sufficient abundance to be of much food-value. 



The genus Lopholaiilus contains but i species, L. chamce- 

 leonticeps, the famous tilefish whose discovery only a few years 

 ago and sudden, almost total disappearance a few months later, 

 has interested commercial fishermen and scientists as well. 



The story of the tilefish is a fascinating one. In May, 1879, 

 Capt. Kirby, of the schooner Win. V. Hutchings, while trawl- 

 ing for cod to the southward of Nantucket, took 5,000 pounds 

 of a fish not only new to him, but new to science. The greater 

 part of the fish taken on the first haul of the trawls were thrown 

 away, but as the samples that had been tried proved excellent 

 eating, those subsequently taken were salted down, and when 

 taken to Gloucester a portion was smoked. In July, more tile- 

 fish were taken, this time on hand-lines. In 1880 and 1881, 

 while engaged in exploring the sea-bottom off the southern coast 

 of New England, the United States Fish Commission steamer 



504 



