Popular Science Monthly 



375 



The Imitation Sturgeon of the South 



The paddlefish frequents the bayous of the Mississippi River, 

 canned and sold for sturgeon. In its fresh state it is eaten by the 



miles long and twenty-five miles wide. The 

 number of fish to meet this untimely end 

 was one billion, five hundred million. 



This phenomenon was so amazing that 

 the Bureau of Fisheries decided to inquire 

 into the matter and the result of the find- 

 ings indicated 

 that the fish 

 probably had 

 died of chill. 

 The tilefish, 

 like the cod, 

 dwells at the 

 bottom of the 

 sea, but as it 

 comes of a 

 tropical fam- 

 ily it cannot 

 withstand the 

 cold as can 

 the cod . 

 There was 

 evidence that 

 the Gulf 

 Stream had 

 receded; as 

 it moved off 

 shore, the 

 tilefish lying 

 at the bottom 



were no longer protected by its warmth 

 and found themselves in chilly water, 

 which proved too much for them. 



A few years after the disappearance of 

 the tilefish the Gulf Stream was found to 

 be gradually approaching the coast. In 

 1892, the warm water of the Gulf Stream 

 flowed over the bottom of the New Eng- 

 land coast and in the summer of that year 

 the Fisheries schooner, Grampus, caught a 

 few tilefish. But for ten 

 years not a single fish 

 had been found on the 

 old grounds, although 

 painstaking search had 

 been made all during 

 that time. 



"What's in a Name?" 



The Dogfish Becomes 



the Grayfish 



As an example of 

 "What's in a name?" 

 take the dogfish. As 

 long as this excellent 

 food fish was called by 

 that unattractive name 

 the public would have 

 none of it. Now that 



it is known as the grayfish it is beginning 

 to be accepted. 



The grayfish is a fine looking fish, very 

 trim and sporty with its clipper-build and 

 smooth shining skin. It is wonderfully 

 quick in its movements, which is necessary 

 for a creature 

 with its pirat- 

 ical propensi- 

 ties. It weighs 

 when grown 

 from five to 

 fifteen 

 pounds, the 

 average for 

 adults being 

 seven pounds. 

 The hide 

 looks scale- 

 less, but is in 

 reality cov- 

 ered with fine, 

 sharp parti- 

 cles very 

 rough to the 

 touch. The 

 skin is used 

 for polishing 

 metal, ivory 

 and wooden 



negroes, who are very fond of it 



articles, as it is much like emery cloth. 



The liver produces an oil which finds a 



ready market in the arts. 



The utilization of these by-products 



makes it possible for the canner to supply 



the fish to the consumer at an unusually 



low price. 



The wholesome grayfish has been eaten 



and enjoyed by the people living on the 



shores of the Mediterranean since some 

 long distant period lost 

 in the shadows of an- 

 tiquity. Doubtless 

 many an American so- 

 journing in Europe has 

 smacked his lips over a 

 dish of savory grayfish 

 and has wondered why 

 we have no native fishes 

 quite so delectable. 



The Wastefulness of 

 California 



On the Pacific coast 

 the people are just as 

 wasteful and extrava- 

 gant as they are on the 

 Atlantic, when it comes 

 to refusing fine flavored 



Our Newest Deep-Sea Food Fish 



The tilefish should prove to be very profitable 

 to the fisheries, because if the fresh fish are 

 caught in such quantities that their sale in 

 the fresh state would not pay they can be 

 salted and smoked like finnan haddie, which, 

 when smoked, they resemble in flavor. If these 

 fish are ever smoked extensively a profitable 

 by-product would be found in the sounds, 

 or swimming bladders, as they are valuable 

 for the production of gelatin or isinglass 



