UNUTILIZED FISHES. 

 Statement of the Food of the Goosefish Examined. 



39 



Note. — B^igure outside of parenthesis denotes number of goosefish ; number or amount 

 of the species eaten is inclosed within parenthesis. 



1 sea robbin. 

 Knot of ell grass ; 

 Fragment. 



skate eggs. 



'' 1 butterfish. 



' 1 eel, i;i inches long : pieces of starfish. 



f Few fish bones ; 1 sand dollar. 



ESTIMATE OF DESTRUCTIVENESS. 



A summary of the literature dealing with the food of the goose- 

 fish will show how wide a range of the animal kingdom is utilized. 

 The list of species eaten includes annelid worms, echinoderms (starfish, 

 sand dollars), squids, and other molluscs, crustaceans (lobster, rock 

 crab, lady crab), fishes (dogfish, skates, eels, sand launce, mackerel, 

 butterfish, squefeague, sculpins, sea raven, flounders), and water fowls 

 (loons, ducks, geese). The great variety, however, is not the only 

 factor of the food of the goosefish to be considered ; quantity is of 

 even greater importance. One look at the enormous mouth and capa- 

 cious stomach, which together con.stitute about one-half of the fish, is 

 sufficient to convince one that the amount of food consumed at one time 

 is enormous. A single meal will sometimes approximate about one- 

 half the Aveight of the goosefish. It is no wonder that the earW 

 colonial writers applied the name greedigut. The reason for such an 

 appetite remains a puzzle, however. If all the nourishment in such 

 meals is a.ssimilated, where and how is the energy used? Apparently 

 not entirely for tissue building or in active locomotion. 



Data concerning the food and economic relations of the goosefish 

 are still incomplete, but it is clear that it is a voracious consumer of 

 certain useful food fishes, particularly the flounder. So long as the 

 numbers do not increase greatly beyond the present abundance, how- 

 ever, the injury done to the fisheries by the goosefish Avill remain 

 unappreciable. 



