ZOOLOGICAL 
THE WRECKFISH OR STONEBASS. 
Photographed at the American Museum of Natural History. 
WRECKFISH OR STONEBASS. 
Polyprion americanus. 
It is a rare occurrence for a European species 
of fish to wander across the Atlantic Ocean and 
be captured in American waters, though a few 
such cases are on record. Considerable interest 
therefore is attached to the fact that specimens 
of the wreckfish have on two occasions appeared 
on this side of the Atlantic. The first of these 
was captured many years ago by the United 
States Fish Commission in the Gulf Stream off 
the Grand Banks. A second specimen has re- 
cently been taken (August 21, 1910) eight miles 
off Asbury Park, N. J. This fish was first seen 
swimming at the surface and Captain Harry 
Maddox of the yacht Carib cast for it. It took 
the hook readily and was hauled on board. It 
weighed thirteen ounces and was about ten 
inches Jong. Like the one formerly taken by 
the Fish Commission it was a young specimen, 
as adults reach a length of four or five feet. 
The young fish, which are strikingly colored 
with bright yellow, mottled with black, live in 
shallow water about rocks or floating timbers. 
Adults live at some depth. What should cause 
a fish to wander so far from its native habitat is 
of course problematical, but it seems reasonable 
to suppose in the case of this fish, whose habits 
lead it to swim beneath floating timber, that it 
has gradually worked its way across the Atlan- 
tic in company with drifting wreckage. Cer- 
tain tropical fishes, find their way more or less 
regularly to the southern New England coast 
amongst the Gulf weed, (Sargassum bacci- 
ferum), carried by the Gulf Stream. Easterly 
winds drive the floating bunches of weed upon 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN. 705 
our shores and the fishes are 
thus brought far out of their 
natural range, only to suc- 
cumb to the rigors of winter 
and perish. By whatever 
the little 
wreckfish reached our shores, 
devious course 
its presence here is interest- 
ing, for it is the first record 
of its capture near the shores 
of the United States. 
The specimen was sent to 
the Aquarium for identifica- 
tion and later to the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural 
History for preservation. 
R. C. O. 
THE SAILFISH. 
tiophorus nigricans. 
HE sailfish is a relative of the swordfish, 
which it resembles in having the upper jaw 
elongated into a sword. This weapon is not 
so long as that of the swordfish, but is said to 
be used in the same manner. The sailfish is 
much more slender than the swordfish, and it 
takes its common name as well as that of the 
genus from the fact that the dorsal fin is ex- 
tremely high and large. The fin is not used to 
assist in locomotion as a sail at the surface of 
the water—an error often repeated in unscien- 
tific papers. The species is rare in the middle 
Atlantie but has been recorded at Woods Hole, 
Mass., and Newport, R. I. Only a single speci- 
men has been recorded from New Jersey, one 
measuring two feet in length, taken at Sea Isle 
City in 1906. Recently a specimen nearly 
seven feet long was received at the Aquarium, 
the gift of Mr. Garrett Hennessey of Long 
Branch, N. J., who took it in a pound net. 
As the specimen was dead when it arrived, it 
was presented to the American Museum of 
Natural History for preservation. The sailfish 
inhabits the warmer waters of tropical and sub- 
tropical seas. Unlike its relative the swordfish 
it is said to take the hook readily and to afford 
the angler plenty of excitement, often spiced 
with considerable danger. Its (Ce OL 
OBITUARY. 
Mr. L. B. Spencer, for nearly sixteen years 
aquarist at the New York Aquarium, died at his 
home on April 16, 1910, at the advanced age of 
73 years. Mr. Spencer’s connection with the 
Aquarium began on May 1, 1894, and during 
this long term of service he made many friends 
among the visitors. 
