432 REPORT OF THE 



Dr. Smith states that large Dolphins are very rare in Vineyard Sound, and none 

 has been seen since about 1890. 



In past years individuals 3 feet long have been taken in traps at Menemsha. 

 Young fish, from 2 to 12 inches long, are obtained nearly every year in the floating 

 gulf weed ; 4 or 5 were secured in July and August, 1897, in Vineyard Sound. 



Family CENTROLOPHIDiE. Rudder Fishes. 



142. Rudder Fish {Paliiuiriclitliys perciforinis Mitchill). 



The Rudder Fish inhabits the Atlantic coast of North America from Cape 

 Hatteras to Maine. It is rather common northward, especially about Cape Cod. 

 It is said also that a specimen was once taken in a live box ofT Cornwall, having 

 drifted across from America. The fish reaches the length of about i foot. 



DeKay describes and figures the fish as the Black Pilot. According to him it is 

 an occasional visitor to our shores. In 181 5 several dozen of these fish followed a 

 ship into the harbor of New York, and one of them was taken by a hook at a 

 wharf in the month of August. This was figured by Mitchill in his Memoir on the 

 Fishes of New York, but was not described. On the plate it is marked Rudder 

 Fish or Perch Coryphene. The fish was afterwards described by Mitchill in the 

 American Monthly Magazine. The individual described by DeKay was taken by 

 hook near Shrewsbury Inlet in July; fishermen called it the Snip-Nose Mullet. 

 In its stomach were found numerous shrimps. 



The Rudder Fish is rare in Gravesend Bay ; some years none are seen, but one 

 or two usually appear during the summer. Young and half-grown were collected 

 in the ocean off Southampton, August 2, 1898, under floating logs and boxes. 

 On October 11, 1898, a single examole was caught with a hook in Clam Pond Cove. 

 In 1901 a school of 40 or 50 was seen at a wharf at Cherry Grove, Great South Bay. 

 A single half-grown individual was caught with a hook baited with fragments of 

 oyster, at the wreck off Tobey's Flat. 



At Woods Hole, Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is common from the last of 

 June to October, under gulf weed and other floating objects. As many as 100 small 

 and medium size fish may sometimes be found in a box, barrel or tub. It is often 

 seen around pound net poles, and has received the name of Pole Fish (among the 

 local fishermen). The largest specimens are taken in traps at Menemsha, and are 

 15 or 16 inches long. 



