CHAPTER XXIV 

 THE BOTTLENOSE PORPOISE IN CAPTIVITY 



FOR two hundred years a porpoise fishery has 

 been conducted in a somewhat desultory man- 

 ner at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The 

 animal which forms the basis of this industry is the 

 bottlenose porpoise (Tur slops truncatus), one of the 

 commonest species of the Atlantic coast, which is espe- 

 cially abundant at Hatteras during the winter. 



The present fishery is owned by Mr. Joseph K. Nye 

 of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a gentleman who for- 

 tunately appreciates the opportunities offered at Cape 

 Hatteras for studying this porpoise and its life history. 

 Through his courtesy several live specimens were 

 presented to the New York Zoological Society 

 and were transported to the New York Aquarium 

 under the direction of Dr. Charles H. Townsend, its 

 Director. 



Dr. Townsend deserves the greatest credit for his 

 perseverance, after several failures, in finally bringing 

 to this city nine porpoises, four of which lived seven 

 months and one twenty-nine months in a circular pool 

 thirty-seven feet in diameter and seven feet deep, in 

 the Aquarium. 



This is a record which has never been equaled and, 

 indeed, I am not aware that any other aquarium of 



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