434 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



but in March and April 1882, before 

 very much had been ascertained about 

 it, there occurred a catastrophic destruc- 

 tion of the tilefish. Vessels reported 

 having sailed for many miles through 

 masses of the dead fish floating at the 

 surface, and, from accounts of various 

 vessels, it was estimated that an area 

 one hundred and seventy miles long and 

 twenty-five miles wide was covered by 

 tilefish in a dead or dying condition, and 

 that at least 1,400,000,000 individuals 

 had perished. 



Later in the same year Professor A. E. 



investigations made both before and 

 since it took place have enabled very 

 probable conjectures to be made. 



The tilefish belongs to a tropical family 

 accustomed to warm water, and many of 

 the sea-bottom animals found in its 

 vicinity are also tropical or subtropical 

 in character. It was found that the sea 

 bottom, at and below the hundred- 

 fathom line along the New England 

 coast is as steep as a mountain side, and 

 the upper portion of this slope, from 

 sixty-five to about two hundred fathoms, 

 is bathed by the waters of the Gulf 



|M<Mi^^^^^^ 



■v^ 



Courlesy of United States Bureau of Fisheries 



The ti oiisn w u discovered by a Captain Kirby, of Gloucester, while fishing for cod ofi" Nantucket. He sent 



specimens to the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington, where it was pronounced a new species and named Lopholalilus 



chamwleonticeps or "the crested tilus with head like a chamaeleon." The captain however christened it "tilefish" 



and such it has remained 



Verrill, then in charge of the scientific 

 exploration work of the United States 

 Fish Commission, investigating with the 

 ship "Fishhawk," not only was unable 

 to find a single tilefish, but also noticed a 

 singular absence of many species of 

 crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, and 

 other forms, which he had found plenti- 

 ful the year before in the same locality. 

 Evidently some marked and sudden 

 change in conditions had fatally affected 

 all these marine creatures, and, although 

 the cause of this change has not been 

 determined with absolute certainty, the 



Stream. The water here is therefore 

 considerably warmer than that nearer 

 inshore, and than the water which 

 underlies it farther out. This narrow 

 warm belt is occupied by a continuation 

 of the southern or West Indian Gulf 

 Stream fauna, which could not exist here 

 if the Gulf Stream did not flow along the 

 bottom of this area both in winter and 

 summer. There is evidence, however, 

 that the position of the Gulf Stream is 

 not constant, and that it was receding 

 offshore at the time of the tilefish dis- 

 aster, leaving the subtropical sea-bot- 



