File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17975113909).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo16amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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The Uniled Sliilcs Fish t omiiiissioii the distribution of the tiletish grounds iliooiier, "(iriiniims, is;);», set ling out from Woods Hole to inv(v-;tigate Tilefishing in Fifty Fathoms By GEORGE H. SHERWOOD 6 4 IV T OW I want you to drop every- I ^ thing, pack your duds and re- port on the' Grampus' at once. She will sail in half an hour." There was no appeal from this command of the director and within the allotted time I was on board the United States Fish Commission schooner "Grampus," and my first experience on deep water had begun. It was in the latter part of August, 1899, and the "Grampus," in command of Captain Hahn, was about to leave the government station at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to continue the investi- gation of the distribution of the tilefish which had been rediscovered along the continental shelf, south of New England. The original discovery of this fish, as far at least as any records go, occurred in )May, 1879, when Captain Kirby of Gloucester, while fishing for cod and hake south of Nantucket, brought up in one catch about two thousand pounds of a strange fish, most of which were promptly thrown overboard. A few, however, were kept and cooked, and proved so palatable that Captain Kirby landed in Gloucester with about four hundred pounds of the dressed fish and sent a specimen to the United States National Museum. It was found to be a new genus and species, was given the name Lopholatilus chamoeleonticeps (or the crested tilus with chamteleon-like head), and as it was a large beautifully colored fish of excellent food qualities, and existed in large numbers not far from the coast, steps were immediately taken to locate the fishing grounds and determine the feasibility of establishing a fishery. From time to time during 1880 and 1881, trawls were set and fish caught, 433'

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