TILE-FISH. 149 



side of the body which resembles the government " broad-arrow " 

 mark. The fish grows to a weight of several pounds, is much 

 esteemed for the table, and is forwarded to market in a smoked 

 condition. Aprion virescens, 536, the " Uku " of Hawaii, is a 

 green, long-bodied fish, widely distributed through Polynesia, and 

 one of the best food-fishes of that region. 



Histiopterus is a genus of rather aberrant fishes of Japan and 

 Australian seas, having a strongly compressed body with very 

 small scales, and a small mouth set at the end of a much produced 

 snout. The teeth are fine, close-set, and equal, and the palate is 

 toothless. Histiopterus recurvirostris, 550, is called the " Bastard 

 Dory." 



Closely allied to the Serranidae are the Pseudochromididse, in 

 which the spines of the dorsal and anal fins are feeble and few. 

 The fishes are marine and of generally wide distribution ; most of 

 them are small, e. g. Latilus (554) and Malacanthus (555). The 

 Tile-fish, Lopholatilus chamaleonticeps, is one of the largest of Tile-fish, 

 the family, and is restricted in its distribution, occurring only in 

 moderately deep water (70-130 fathoms) in the American part of 

 the North Atlantic, It is very brightly coloured ; the triangular 

 " fatty fin " on the back of the head is remarkable, and is 

 characteristic of the genus Lopholatilus. 



The Tile-fish was first caught in 1879 off Nantucket Island, 

 several hundred specimens being obtained. It was found to be an 

 excellent table-fish and was expected to become a regular article 

 in the American fish markets. For three years it was fairly 

 common and many thousands were captured. 



In March 1882 a vast destruction of the Tile-fish took place ; 

 millions of the dead fish were found floating on the surface of the 

 ocean over an area of some 5000 to 7000 square miles. 

 Prof. Verrill has pointed out that at the bottom of the region in 

 question there is a band of temperate water (48° to 50° P.) 

 between the Arctic current on the one hand and the cold deep 

 sea on the other, and that in this temperate band the Tile-fish live 

 and breed. He suggests that the heavy gales of the early part of 

 1882, and the displacement of much shore ice over the area, caused 

 such a chilling of the warm tract of water as to kill off the fishes 

 living in it, whose dead bodies were thus scattered far and wide. 



