86 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Partly on account of the systematic collecting, and partly because of the very 
favorable geographical position of Woods Hole, an unexpectedly large number of 
lishes have beeu ascertained to inhabit the region as permanent residents, regular 
seasonal migrants, casual visitants, or stragglers. There is probably no other locality 
in the United States, with the exception of southern Florida, in which so many species 
have been detected. Excluding the fresh- water fishes, more than 200 species have been 
obtained at Woods Hole. The section is interesting as marking the northern limit 
of distribution of many common fishes, and, on the other hand, the southern limit of a 
number of northern species. 
The most striking feature of the fauna is the extent to which species character- 
istic of the West Indies or Florida are represented. This enrichment of the fauna 
is directly traceable to the Gulf Stream, which is within about 100 miles of Woods 
Hole. Most of the southern fishes are very young, the adults of many species 
being either entirely absent or quite rare; and it is apparent that their presence in the 
waters of southern Hew England is involuntary. Falling within the influence of the 
Gulf Stream, the small fishes are passively carried northward. A common medium 
of transfer is tbe gulf-weed or sargasso- weed ( Sargassum bacciferum ), under which 
the fishes congregate for protection. The patches of floating weed are often of large 
size, affording ample shelter and at the same time furnishing food to the fishes 
beneath and among them. Winds from the south, southeast, east, or northeast dislodge 
the weed from the Gulf Stream and distribute it along the shores of the United 
States. The configuration of the shore of southern Flew England forms a kind of 
huge pocket in which the drift is concentrated, in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, 
from a wide expanse of sea. The weed appears in this section every year and is 
distributed by winds and tides in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. It is most 
abundant after southerly winds. The fishes which it shelters gradually become 
dispersed in the inshore waters as the weed is driven ashore or dies and sinks. 
There is every reason to believe that practically all the young fishes which do not 
get out of the Gulf Stream before it has ascended very far along the east coast of 
the United States must inevitably perish, since their small size makes their return to 
southern waters almost impossible. Those which are blown ashore on the Middle 
and North Atlantic coasts in spring, summer, and early fall doubtless find the surface 
water not uncongenial, and survive until winter, while those which are carried out of 
the Gulf Stream in winter must very quickly succumb to the cold. The Gulf Stream 
is, in fact, a great highway along which a continuous body of fish and other animals, 
in infinite variety, is being carried from their natural habitat in the south to almost 
certain destruction in the north. 
During July, 1897, there was an unusual p revalence of southerly, southeasterly, 
and southwesterly winds. Toward the end of the month the weed drifted into Vine- 
yard Sound and Buzzards Bay in large quantities, and was distributed by the tide in 
long, straggling lines. To this circumstance may be attributed the capture during the 
subsequent summer and fall months of a number of fishes that were either very rare 
or wholly unknown in the region heretofore. On July 24, in the course of two hours, 
15 species were obtained in gulf-weed off Great Harbor, by means of small dip nets 
operated from a sailboat. Among these were the marbled angler ( Pterophryne ldstrio ), 
Bermuda chub ( Kyphosus sectatrix ), log perch (Palinurichthys perciformis), rudder-fish 
( Seriola zonata ), dolphin ( Coryphcena hippurm), trigger-fish (Balistes vetula), sobaco 
