THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE TILEFISH. 
327 
111 1893 the Orampm made five trips in search of the tilefish, set the trawls at 18 
stations, and caught 53 fish. Although the trawls were set at 5 jilaces near stations 
4 and 9, no fish were taken, so that the greater amount of time was spent near the 
“Hudson Channel,” where on one occasion a single set of the trawl yielded 24 fish. 
The record for 1893 is as follows: 
Date,. 
Station 
No. 
Depth. 
Lat. N. 
l.ong. 
vy 
No. of 
tilelisli. 
Weight. 
Trip 1 : 
July 19,189.3... 
July 20,1893... 
July 20,1893... 
Jul'y 21,1893... 
July 21,1893... 
.July 21,1893 .. 
Trip 2 : 
Julv 25,1893... 
Fms. 
93 
39 
58 
00 
71 
19 
00 
Lbs. 
^8 
75 
39 
15 
00 
72 
31 
30 
29 
39 
14 
00 
72 
29 
00 
30 
31 
32 
74 
39 
39 
23 
23 
00 
72 
72 
24 
25 
00 
00 
1 
4 
71 
39 
39 
00 
90 
72 
24 
30 
1 
33 
25 
72 
00 
1 
July 2?! 1893... 
July 27,1893... 
Trip 3 : 
Aiig'. 10, 1893... 
Aug. 11,1893... 
Trip 4 : 
Aug. 19, 1893... 
Aug. 20, 1893. .. 
34 
35 
74 
30 
20 
00 
72 
28 
00 
69 
'39 
39 
25 
00 
72 
10 
00 
*4 
3(i 
1 
79 
19 
30 
72 
25 
30 
1 
37 
73 
39 
20 
00 
72 
45 
t 24 
38 
39 
23 
00 
72 
32 
00 
6 
39 
72 
39 
23 
72 
29 
00 
Aug. 22, 1893... 
Auv. 22. 1893. 
40 
75 
39 
.18 
21 
72 
23 
00 
G 
41 
64 
39 
19 
00 
72 
34 
30 
Trip 5: 
Sept. 21,1893... 
Sept. 21, 1893... 
Sept. 22,1893... 
Sept. 22, 1893. . . 
42 
08 
40 
04 
00 
71 
00 1 
43 
78 
40 
30 
71 
14 
00 1 
44 1 
65 
40 
12 
00 
71 
10 
00 
45 j 
80 
40 
14 
30 
71 
01 
00 ; 
Ovaries of fish fully developed. t Spawn in advanced stage. 
During 1894, 1895, and 1896 the Grampus and Fish Hawh were engaged with 
other work, and it was the general opinion that, although scattered specimens of the 
tilefish might be found, they were not sufficiently abundant to warrant continued 
efforts toward their capture. 
On February 8, 1897, the 78-ton schooner Mabel Kenniston was overtaken by a gale 
while on the Georges Bank, and was blown to the westward about 120 miles. The 
exact location is not definitely known, but it was about 140 miles southwest of Ho 
Man’s Land, in latitude about 39° 40' H. and longitude 72° 10' AV. Haddock trawls 
to the westward, as far as the season and the finances of the Commission Avould permit, in order to 
verify the facts and see whether the conditions of the theory which I iiad advanced really seemed to 
hold good along the southwestern projection of the continental i)latform. As this conference took 
place on the Grampus and no instructions aside from the verbal understanding between us are ip 
existence, the mere fact that such work was done at that time and under my direction can hardly he 
explained in any other way. 
“ With reference to the other question, that in 1893 no tilefish were found near the seventy-first 
meridian, while a large number were taken near 72° 30" W., 39° 20" N., this would tend, in my 
opinion, to confirm this statement, because the location which you have given would seem to show 
that, if not a permanent break in this Hudson River depression, at least a temporary break had 
occurred. Some fish must have gone across this break, because we found the proper temyieratures and 
proper conditions all around the sides of this depression in 1892. The warm water may have with- 
drawn slightly, so as to interrupt the movement of the school of fish along the bottom after that time. 
“The answers to yonr questions all hang togetlier upon the establishment of that one point, and 
here I think I have temperature observations enough to warrant me in the statement that while we 
did find the tilefish over the whole area in 1892, it is quite probable that the general conditions had 
not become permanent along the edge of the continental platform, but that they were still undergoing 
a species of oscillation. It is my impression tliat if we have a series of years, in the near future, with 
a predominance of northwesterly winds, we will be treated sooner or later to a new disappearance 
or annihilation of that same body of fish, because yon will easily see that if tlie warm band re])resenting 
the lower layers of the Gulf Stream is ever withdrawn from the coutine:ital edge, it will probably be 
withdrawn in the manner in which 1 have indicated, and then the conditions for the disappearance 
of the fish will be at hand once more.” 
