THE SEA BASSES. 4I 
Island, almost under the shadow of the twin light-houses of Thatcher’s Is- 
land, waylaid many southern species never before known to enter Massa- 
chusetts Bay, among them the kingfish and the Spanish mackerel. At 
some future time the Sea Bass may become abundant in these more north- 
erly waters. Like the scuppaug, the Spanish mackerel, and the bluefish, 
it was at one time almost unknown to New England. In the ‘‘ Catalogue 
of the Fishes of Connecticut,’’ published in 1842 by Linsley, the species is 
described as a great novelty. However strange to the people of Connecti- 
cut at this time, it is said by Storer to have been so abundant, between 
1850 and 1860, that fifty or sixty vessels were accustomed to obtain full 
fares in summer about the Vineyard Sound. This statement is probably 
somewhat of an exaggeration. 
The ‘ Zee-Baars’’ mentioned in the verse of Steendam’s poem, ‘In 
Praise of New Netherland,’’ which stands at the head of this chapter may 
or may not have been Centropristes. Mr. Murphy, in his translation, gives 
the exact equivalent of the Dutch words. :— 
“The bream, and sturgeon, drumfish and gurnard 
The Sea-Bass which a prince would not discard 
The cod and salmon cooked with due regard, 
Most palatable.” 
Schoepf, writing of the fishes of New York in 1787, stated that the 
“¢ Blackfish ’’ was rarely brought to New York, and the species does not 
appear to have been at all prominent among the New England food fishes 
of the last century. A diligent search through the works of the early 
writers fails to bring to light any definite allusions. It would be interest- 
ing to know whether there has actually been an increase in their abund- 
ance, or whether the apparent increase has been, as with the Spanish 
mackerel, due to the introduction of new modes of fishing, or the discovery 
of new fishing grounds. 
The favorite haunts of the Sea-Bass are among the rocky ledges and 
“‘spots of ground’’ which are so abundant in the bays and sounds, and 
are scattered at intervals along the outer Atlantic coast. Among the 
boulders and ledges, full of cracks and crevices, which mark the position 
of these localities, there grow, in the greatest profusion, invertebrates of 
every order. A haul of the dredge over a good fishing ground often 
brings up tens of thousands of minute animals. A hundred species have 
often been recorded from a single dredging by the Fish Commission. 
Upon such feeding grounds the Sea-Bass congregate in great herds, rooting 
