ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
83 
helped tow the shark to Key West, which took 
eighteen and a half hours. 
After docking the shark, it was a disappoint¬ 
ment from a photographic point of view, for 
the cartilaginous structure was of such a flexible 
nature that it collapsed. 
The specimen was then dissected and the 
parts necessary for anatomical study and re¬ 
construction were shipped to the Museum. 
The specimen measured thirty-three feet in 
length and twenty-three feet in girth behind the 
pectoral fins. It was estimated to weigh be¬ 
tween fifteen and twenty tons. 
A WHITEFISH SAVED BY STRIPPING 
By Ida M. Mellen 
O UR prized whitefishes, hatched at the 
Aquarium in January 1913, have dwindled 
to less than fifty; and when, on April 
16, 1923, Director Townsend called my atten¬ 
tion to a specimen that was bloated and appar¬ 
ently egg-bound, we naturally sought to save it 
if possible. 
Although it was a bit late in the season for a 
whitefish to be carrying eggs, as others among 
its companions were gravid in January, the fish 
was removed from the tank and found to be 
actually egg-bound, or, in the parlance of the 
fisheries, “plugged.” The vent was obstructed, 
and it became necessary to cut through the ob¬ 
struction with a steel forceps inserted fully one 
inch into the body of the fish through the vent. 
Then, under manipulation, the eggs began to 
flow from between the prongs of the forceps— 
about 3,000 of them—some only dry and yellow 
shells, others in a state of decay. The eggs 
themselves were not sufficient in number to 
have caused the bloating of the fish. This was 
due to gases arising from them as they decayed. 
When all the eggs had been extruded, the 
fish was placed in a reserve tank in order that 
its behavior might be observed. Instead of 
floating on its back and gasping hard, as white- 
fishes generally do after removal from the water 
for any reason, this specimen began to swim 
vigorously about the tank, and to cavort and 
gamble, as it were, like a young lamb. White- 
fishes are rather sedate, and this frolicking was 
probably not due to a feeling of elation on the 
fish’s part, though it must have experienced 
immediate and immense relief, but more likely 
to some temporary irritation resulting from the 
operation. 
The next day the fish presented a normal 
appearance and was, as her “keeper” expressed 
it, “happy as a clam at high tide.” She was 
returned to her companions and is still alive and 
well. Except for the operation, she would have 
died. 
Because there is no external difference in the 
sexes of whitefishes, the Director ordered the 
specimen tagged, that it might be known in 
future as a female. This was done by inserting 
an aluminum button in the tail. 
Lacking the natural impulses of a wild en¬ 
vironment—the driving by the males, the pre¬ 
ferred places for nest-building or for depositing 
the eggs among vegetation, etc.—fishes in cap¬ 
tivity have a tendency to become egg-bound, or 
roe-bound as it is also called. Fine specimens 
of goldfishes and other valuable species may 
be saved by stripping, just as we saved the 
whitefish. The formation of gas and the con¬ 
sequent abnormal bloating of the fish, will al¬ 
ways give warning. 
In stripping, the specimen should be taken in 
the left hand and held firmly by the tail, upside 
down, with the head toward the operator, while 
the right hand grasps it just below the throat. 
The right thumb may then be used to press the 
eggs gently downward toward the vent; and if 
they do not come readily, one can safely assume 
that the vent is blocked. A small lead-pencil 
or similar instrument will serve to cut through 
this obstruction. An ideal method employed by 
the United States Bureau of Fisheries, as I am 
informed by our Mr. Howley, formerly of the 
Bureau, is to insert a small tube and let the eggs 
flow out through that. 
Lecture on the Aquarium .—Some years ago 
Professor Bristol lectured twice weekly on the 
New York Aquarium. At that time few fine 
photographs of aquatic animals had been se¬ 
cured. Miss Mellen took up the work of lecturing 
on the Aquarium last winter, illustrating her 
talk with about seventy-five lantern slides made 
from Mr. Sanborn’s excellent photographs of 
Aquarium subjects, and also showed half a dozen 
motion picture films of fishes swimming in the 
tanks. The lecture was given before 1,200 men 
in Sing Sing Prison, several hundred men at 
the Home for Disabled Soldiers at Kearny, 
N. J., at the Staten Island Institute of Arts 
and Sciences, St. George, S. I., before the John 
Alden Kindred at Lockwood Academy and at 
other places in Brooklyn, and part of it was 
broadcasted from “WJZ” Newark. It was a 
marked success and will be given again next 
season. 
