THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 69 



Au excessive change of temperature, whether the change be to ex- 

 treme heat or extreme cold, constitutes au important member of the 

 agencies injurious to fishes. The latter phase, however, is the more dan- 

 gerous, as while the fishes that belong to the colder waters of the ocean 

 are but seldom exposed to an unnatural degree of heat, those of the 

 South Atlantic and the Gulf Coast of the United States are frequently 

 killed at once by a severe turn of cold weather, hundreds of tons of 

 fish frequently perishing within a limited district. This is quite a com- 

 mon accompaniment iu the fall and winter of the severe northers on 

 the Texas coast. Similar cases of death by cold or freezing are often 

 observed on the shores of the New England and Middle States, although 

 usually not so marked in their presentation. It is, however, quite com- 

 mon to find in early winter numbers of scup, tautog, sea bass, and other 

 species in a drying condition on the beach. 



Fish Icilled by cold. — I find among some manuscript notes communi- 

 cated to me by J. Carson Brevoort, esq., that in 1849 many fish were 

 killed in Massachusetts by the cold, G0,000 pounds of striped bass hav- 

 ing been taken from Polk pound, and 120,000 pounds from Newton 

 pound, Martha's Vineyard, and sent to the New York market. He also 

 records that on the 30th of September, 1841, the shores of Jamaica pond 

 were covered with young pompanos, from 14 to 5 inches in length, sup- 

 posed to have been killed by the cold. 



Dr. H. C. Yarrow reports that in the winter of 1S70-1871, in the lat- 

 ter part of December, great numbers of drum, flounders, small mullet, 

 trout, and spots were frozen at New River (a prolific fishing ground), 45 

 miles from Fort Macon. The trout, mullet, and flounders were piled on 

 the shore knee high, and were carted all over the country as manure, 

 selling at $1 per barrel. 



The same thing happened a year or two later. Thousands offish have 

 been frozen at the same place. Almost every winter during the last 

 ten years more or less of the food-fishes have been destroyed by cold. 



In addition to the destruction of fish in large numbers by sudden 

 chilling of the water, such as frequently takes place in the Gulf of 

 Mexico and the eastern coast of Florida after a severe norther, many 

 are killed by the action of anchor-ice. Thus, in the vicinity of Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., young herring and other fish are often found in the winter 

 time floating in vast numbers, and also imbedded in the ice which forms 

 at the bottom and floats to the top. 



Other fatalities. — A further example of the method by which 

 large numbers of fishes and other inhabitants of the waters may have 

 been destroyed simultaneously is given by Mr. Henry O. Forbes, of 

 Aberdeen, Scotland, in his account of a visit to the Cocos or Keeling 

 Islands in 1884. In this region, immediately after a cyclone, which oc- 

 curred January 28, 1870, the water on one side of an adjacent lagoon 

 was observed to be rising from a considerable depth and of a black- 

 ened color. It continued to flow for about fourteen days, had an inky 



