ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



705 



THE WRECKFISH OR STONEBASS. 

 Phitographed at the American Museum of Natural 



WRECKFISH OR STONEBASS. 



Polyprion americnniis. 



It is a rare occurrence for a European .s])ecits 

 of fish to wander across the Atlantic Ocean and 

 be captured in American waters, though a few 

 such cases are on record. Considerable interest 

 therefore is attached to the fact that specimens 

 of the wreckfish have on two occasions appeared 

 on this side of the Atlantic. The first of these 

 was captured many years ago by the United 

 States Fish Commission in the Gulf Stream off 

 the Grand Banks. A second specimen has re- 

 cently been taken (August 21, 1910) eight miles 

 off Asbury Park, N. J. This fish was first seen 

 swimming at the surface and Captain Harry 

 Maddox of the yacht Carib cast for it. It took 

 the hook readily and was hauled on board. It 

 weighed thirteen ounces and was about ten 

 inches long. Like the one formerly taken by 

 the Fish Commission it was a young specimen, 

 as adults reach a length of four or five feet. 



The young fish, which are strikingly colored 

 with bright yellow, mottled with black, live in 

 shallow water about rocks or floating timbers. 

 Adults live at some depth. What should cause 

 a fish to wander so far from its native habitat is 

 of course problematical, but it seems reasonable 

 to suppose in the case of this fish, whose habits 

 lead it to swim beneath floating timber, that it 

 has gradually worked its way across the Atlan- 

 tic in company with drifting wreckage. Cer- 

 tain tropical fishes, find their way more or less 

 regularly to the southern New England coast 

 amongst the Gulf weed, (Sargassum bacci- 

 feruvi), carried by the Gulf Stream. Easterlv 

 winds drive the floating bunches of weed upon 



our shores and the fishes are 

 thus brought far out of their 

 natural range, only to suc- 

 cumb to the rigors of winter 

 and perish. By whatever 

 devious course the little 

 wreckfish reached our shores, 

 its presence here is interest- 

 ing, for it is the first record 

 of its capture near the shores 

 of the United States. 



Tlie specimen was sent to 

 the Aquarium for identifica- 

 tion and later to the Amer- 

 i c a n Museum of Natural 

 History for preservation. 

 R. C. O. 



THE SAILFISH. 

 Dotiophoiits nigricans. 



THE sailfish is a relative of the swordfish, 

 which it resembles in having the upper jaw 

 elongated into a sword. This weapon is not 

 so long as that of the swordfish, but is said to 

 be used in the same manner. The sailfish is 

 much more slender than the swordfish, and it 

 takes its counnon name as well as that of the 

 genus from the fact that the dorsal fin is ex- 

 tremely high and large. The fin is not used to 

 assist in locomotion as a sail at the surface of 

 the water — an error often repeated in unscien- 

 tific papers. The species is rare in the middle 

 Atlantic but has been recorded at Woods Hole, 

 .Mass., and Newport, R. I. Only a single speci- 

 men has been recorded from New Jersey, one 

 measuring two feet in length, taken at Sea Isle 

 City in 1906. Recently a specimen nearly 

 seven feet long was received at the Aquarium, 

 the gift of Mr. Garrett Hennessey of Long 

 Branch, N. J., who took it in a pound net. 



As the specimen was dead when it arrived, it 

 was presented to the American Museum of 

 Natural History for preservation. The sailfish 

 inhabits the warmer waters of tropical and sub- 

 tro])ical seas. Unlike its relative the swordfish 

 it is said to take the hook readily and to afford 

 the angler jilenty of excitement, often spiced 

 with considerable danger. R. C. O. 



OBITUARY. 



Mr. L. B. Spencer, for nearly sixteen years 

 aquarist at the New York Aquarium, died at his 

 home on April 16, 1910, at the advanced age of 

 73 years. Mr. Silencer's connection with the 

 Aquarium began on jMay 1, 1891', and during 

 this long term of service he made many friends 

 among the visitors. 



