FISHES OF OUR NORTH ATLANTIC SEABOARD 
67 
Photograph from H. L. Rust, Jr. 
A “GIANT” LOBSTER THAT LOST ITS LUCK 
Big fellows like the one here shown are probably not giants of their species, but merely those to whom 
fate was so kind as to allow them to grow to their full maturity. It may have escaped the perils of half a 
century before the luckless hour when it became enmeshed in some fisherman’s gear. 
found that the v.mter was colder, and that the 
marine life that formerly occupied this thermal 
peninsula had disappeared. What had happened 
was that northern gales had driven Arctic ice down 
into the area and had made the water too cold for 
the Tilefish to bear. 
It was predicted that if this were the correct 
explanation, and if the water came back to its 
usual temperature again, the Tilefish would ulti¬ 
mately reappear. But years went by and not a single 
survivor of the catastrophe was found. Fears began 
to be entertained that the species had been wholly 
exterminated by the calamity that had befallen it. 
But in 1892 the Grampus caught eight. In¬ 
creasing catches with successive years showed that 
the Tilefish was gradually reestablishing itself, 
just as the scientists had predicted it would. 
But after the Tilefish appeared again the task 
arose of introducing it to the dining table of the 
American people. Possessed of a flesh of fine 
texture and good flavor, the difficulty lay only in 
the inertia of the people against trying new kinds 
of food. The Bureau of Fisheries, however, under¬ 
took propaganda in favor of the Tilefish and met 
with fair success. For awhile it was the most 
advertised fish in American waters. At present it 
has to rely on its own flavor to carry it to a wider 
and disinclined-to-try-new-things clientele. 
AMERICAN LOBSTER (Homarus americanus) 
{For illustration see Color Plate^ P^Z^ 54 ) 
The American Lobster is an edible crustacean 
found on the coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean 
and the Mediterranean Sea—on our coast especially 
from Delaware to Labrador. It inhabits waters 
from the shore out to the loo-fathom line and is 
most numerous on the shores of Maine and Nova 
Scotia. It prefers rocky bottoms, though it may be 
found in other environments, and usually, though 
not without exception, leaves the shallower waters 
during the winter months and finds temperatures 
more to its requirements beyond the loo-fathom line. 
All kinds of animals, both living and dead, and 
some vegetable matter are pleasing to its appetite. 
Although dangerous prey to attack, the Lobsters, 
in spite of their hard shells, powerful claws, and 
burrowing habits, fall victim to the Cod, the Tautog, 
the Skate, and the Dogfish, which annually destroy 
millions of them, particularly the young ones, the 
egg-bearing females, and the molting adults. 
The effect of overfishing for Lobsters shows more 
in the steady decline in the size of those taken 
than in the diminution of numbers. The pro¬ 
vision of a closed season does not accomplish much, 
since the female carries her spawn attached to her 
body for about ten months. Regulations requiring 
the release of females carrying spawn—“in berry,” 
as that condition is known to the Lobster fishermen 
—have been made, but are usually ineffective. 
The number of eggs produced by a female 
Lobster varies from 3,000 to 100,000, depending 
upon the size and age of the individual, maturity 
being reached in from three to four years. It is 
believed that it lays only every other year. 
The Lobsters are usually caught in traps known 
as Lobster pots, made of ordinary plastering lath 
and having a funnel-shaped opening made of tarred 
