260 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
of small fish, crustaceans, and, to some extent, of mollusks, although its. 
teeth are formed for crushing the thick-shelled species. In Greenland they 
are said to feed upon the pole-flounder. A specimen taken off Eastern 
Point, Gloucester, in July, 1878, had its throat full of shrimp-like crusta¬ 
ceans (Mysis, sp.), and others, taken at Eastport, were feeding extensively 
on a larger crustacean (Thysanopoda, sp.), which is also a favorite food of 
the mackerel. They may be caught with almost any kind of bait, but are 
not, like their associates, the cunners, given to feeding upon refuse 
substances, and, being also more shy and watchful, cannot be captured in 
bag-nets. They breed in summer, from June to September, in deep holes 
in Massachusetts Bay and off the coast of Southern New England, where 
it has not been uncommon for the Fish Commission to obtain thousands of 
young ones, two and three inches long, at one set of the trawl-net, and 
also adults full of spawn. The young are lighter in color than the adults, 
and are conspicuously banded with reddish-brown upon a grayish ground. 
The young constitute a favorite food of the codfish, while, at all ages, they 
are preyed upon by the halibut and other large predaceous fishes of the 
cold-water districts. 
Although the Rose-fish is much esteemed as an article of food, and is 
caught in considerable numbers all along the coast of Maine and the 
British Provinces in the season when it frequents the shallows near the 
shore, and in winter at Gloucester when flocking in large numbers into the 
harbor, the most extensive fisheries are probably on the coast of Green¬ 
land, where they are highly prized by the natives, who feed on the flesh 
and use the spines of fins for needles, and in Massachusetts Bay, where 
great quantities are taken by the Irish market-fishermen on trawling-lines. 
In winter they are occasionally found in the New York markets, and on 
one or two occasions have been brought in considerable numbers to New 
Haven, and even to Philadelphia. The flesh is firm, rich, and delicate in 
flavor ; the young fish, fried crisp, make an excellent substitute for white- 
bait. 
The naturalists on the “Albatross” sometimes have a famous dish of 
this sort set before them, when the trawl net has brought up bushels of 
the young Rose-fish from the ocean depths. 
The writer once had the pleasure of testing the flavor of this species, 
under peculiarly favorable circumstances. It was during the Fisheries 
Exhibition of 1883, and the occasion was thus described at the time in the 
London “ Times. ’ ’ 
