OCEAN CURRENTS 181 



with the dead bodies of the tile-fish and other organisms. 

 The original presence and the subsequent destruction of 

 the tile-fish may alike have been due to changes in the 

 volume and consequent lateral shifting of the Gulf Stream 

 and the Labrador current. That there are seasonal and 

 other variations in the volume and temperature of the GuK 

 Stream waters in the North Atlantic was established and 

 discussed in some detail by H. N. Dickson in 1901.^ 



I am indebted to Dr. C. H. Townsend, Director of the 

 New York Aquarium, for some later information in regard 

 to the reappearance in quantity of this valuable fish upon 

 the old fishing-grounds off Nantucket and Long Island, at 

 about 100 miles from the coast to the east and south-east 

 of New York. It is believed that the tile-fish is now 

 abundant enough in these waters to maintain an important 

 fishery, which will add an excellent food-fish to the markets 

 of the United States. It is easily caught with lines at all 

 seasons of the year, and reaches a length of over 3 feet 

 and a weight of 40 to 50 lb. During July, 1916, the product 

 of the fishery was about two and a haK million pounds 

 weight, valued at $55,000, and in the first few months 

 of 1917 the catch was four and a half million pounds, for 

 which the fishermen received $247,000. Dr. Townsend, 

 writing in March, 1920, says : " Since then (1915) we have 

 had a regular fishery for tile-fish, the New York catch being 

 made on tile-fish grounds about 100 miles south-east of 

 New York. The Boston catch is taken a little farther to the 

 eastward. Tile-fish are to be found in the New York markets 

 plentifully enough in the summer, although fishing was 

 much interrupted during the war." 



It is no smaU matter to have introduced a new and 

 important food-fish to the markets of the world, and the 

 U.S. Fisheries Biu-eau deserve great credit for their success 

 in investigating the fish, establishing the fishery and intro- 

 ducing this new food to the people. 



1 Phil. Trans. Royal Soc, A., vol. 196, p. 61. 



