6 MOETALITY OF FISHES, WEST COAST OF FLORIDA. 



in which the species appeared are not consistent, so it is assumed that 

 there Avas no particular succession of species. The abnormal condi- 

 tions seemed to be moving southward, occurring at Boca Grande on 

 October 3 and 18, at Captiva Pass about the middle of October, at 

 Blind Pass about October 20, at San Carlos Pass about November 1, 

 and dead fish were first seen at Big Marco Pass on November 5. 

 Captiva Pass is 7.5 statute miles south of Boca Grande Pass; the 

 others are, respectively, 16.5, 27.75, and 67.75 miles to the south of 

 Boca Grande Pass. The captain of the steamer Roamer, of the 

 Florida Shellfish Commission, reports that dead fish w^ere seen as 

 far south as Cape Romano, about 128 miles south of Boca Grande. 

 The death of two persons in Fort Myers, Fla., in November, was 

 attributed to the eating of some of these dead fish. 



The following letters from George H. Skermer, deputy collector of 

 customs at Boca Grande, describing the phenomenon, merit reproduc- 

 tion here. Letter dated October 22, 1916, reads : 



I wish to call your attention to an unusual phenomenon which has occurred 

 on the Gulf coast during the past month, and which, so far as I am able to 

 ascertain, has extended on the north to Sarasota and south to Naples, west- 

 ward, from 15 to 20 miles. 



About October 3, large quantities of what are locally known as " red-mouth 

 grunts " began to come ashore. These fish were normal in appearance, with the 

 exception that many showed a tendency to have the eyes almost forced out 

 of their sockets. The early morning of the third the Gulf was covered with 

 these fish as far as the eye could see. Later in the day many other varieties 

 began to drift in, and by night what might be styled windrows of them were 

 lying along the beach. Among them were many fish altogether strange to us; 

 among the known varieties were mackerel, jacks, small shark, porkfish, sheeps- 

 head, toadfish (several varieties), mangrove snappers, grouper, sardines, sea- 

 horse, cowfish, remora, moray, eels, mullec, pinfish, gurnards, ladyfish, grunts, 

 and many other varieties, not all of which showed the tendency to "popeye." 



Soon after this drift commenced I went to the beach accompanied by a sniali 

 dog; while on the beach I felt a slight tendency to sneeze and cough; shortly 

 afterwards my attention was called to the action of the dog which was sneezing 

 violently and seemed to be in acute distress, choking and showing every symp- 

 tom of asphyxiation. I carried him off the beach and in a short time lie seemed 

 to recover, so I carried him back, and the same thing happened again. I then 

 noticed that my lungs were feeling sore and that my breathing was labored, in 

 much the same manner as when I board ships after fumigation, except that I 

 could notice no odor. Other people were affected the same way. 



Later in the day the captain of the Cuban fishing smack Rafncia I'cdre, which 

 had run into the harbor for water after a 45-day trip, come to the office and 

 told me that his entire catch of grouper and snapper had died almost imme- 

 diately after the tide started in. I questioned him carefiilly and found that 

 they had noticed the peculiar sensation I have above descril>ed. The next day 

 another smack came in with her fish dead and reported that dead fish covered 

 the Gulf for miles out. The captain of the Dutch steamship Zeta, which arrived 

 on the Sth, reported that he had passed through miles of dead fish. 



In a few days the plague abated, very few more coming in. 



