FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 
333 
Bay and Cape Hatteras, it appears that they move out to sea to winter on the outer 
part of the continental shelf as do several other common Gulf of Maine fishes. 
The illustrations of larvae 2.1 and 3.4 mm long credited by Kuntz and Radcliffe 
(1918) to the butterfisli and reproduced by Bigelow and Welsh (1925, fig. 116, c and d ) 
have since been proved to belong to one of the hakes. 
Harvestfish, Peprilus alepidotus (Linnaeus) 
Five or six specimens were reported caught in floating traps at Richmond Island, 
off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in July 1929, while another was taken at the mouth of 
the Damariscotta River, Maine, in August 1933, the most northerly record for 
the species. 
Striped bass, Roccus lineatus (Bloch) 
The striped bass considerably increased in abundance along both shores of Cape 
Cod between 1928 and 1932, then decreased again as illustrated by the following 
catches reported for Barnstable County, Mass.: 1928, 8,060 pounds; 1929, 18,665 
pounds; 1930, 27,385 pounds; 1931, 33,600 pounds; 1932,30,926 pounds; 1933,4,500 
pounds. Anglers as well as commercial fishermen have also caught some numbers 
along the Eastham-Chatham Beaches and marshes during the past few years, while 
a 44% pound bass was caught near Brant Rock on the southern shore of Massachu- 
setts Bay, in November 1930. A small stock seems also to have built up in the brack- 
ish tributaries of Plum Island Sound north of Cape Ann, for some were taken in 
Parker River by anglers during the few years previous to 1930, while in that year 
(when fishing restrictions were relaxed) 8,700 pounds were reported thence, though 
smaller numbers since then. But this increase did not extend northward beyond 
Massachusetts waters, for the commercial reports from the States of New Hampshire 
and Maine did not mention bass at all in 1924, or in 1928-33.® 
Striped bass so rarely stray away from the immediate shoreline that it is of 
interest to mention the capture of a 6-pound fish in a gill net on Cod Ledge, 3 or 4 
miles off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, October 15, 1931. 
Sea bass, Centropristes striatus (Linnaeus) 
Sea bass are seldom taken within the Gulf of Maine, and even on the southern 
New England coast are rarely caught later than early November, hence the reported 
capture of a 5-pound fish in December 1930, 5 miles east of Pollock Rip Lightship, 
in 24 fathoms, is noteworthy. 
Triggerfish, Balistes carolinensis Gmelin 
Previous to 1925, only one specimen of the trigger fish had been reported from 
the Gulf of Maine. Actually, this species must drift over the offshore rim of the 
gulf more often than the paucity of early records would suggest, for a specimen was 
recorded from Casco Bay in August 1931 ; another was taken in 1932 near Plymouth; 
a third, 15 inches long, was gaffed at the surface, on the southeast part of Georges 
Bank, from the fishing vessel Huntington Sanford, in July 1929; and two small fry, 
2 to 3 inches in length, were picked up on the northeast part of the bank in mid- 
September 1927, by the Albatross II. The fact that these last were taken with gulf 
weed (Sargassum) suggests that triggerfish are most apt to appear on the banks with 
the latter. 
• No statistics are available for 1925-27. 
