Fish mortality in the Gulf of Mexico

105

ofthe Southern States, vol. i,is an account ofits occurrenceinremark- able

numbers

in the Southern States in 1834.

It is aninteresting: fact concerning^- this insect that it also occursin the Eastern and Middle States, butthat in these States

we

rarelyhear ofits injuries to

man

orto domestic animals.

Carbolicsoap isconsidered anexcellent preventiveinthe Southwest, and, according to Prof.^J. Parish Stelle,

who made

the experiment for

me

in 1880,pyrethrum blown

upon

the sores will induce the

worms

to issue forth

and

leave them.

Respectfully,

C. V.

RILEY,

Curator ofInsects.

Prof.

Spencer

^F.

Baird,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.

FISH MORTALITY

IN

THE GULF OF MEXICO.

By

^S. T.

WALKER.

[Letterto Prof.S.F.Baird.]

Knowing: yourinterest ineverything-connected with fish,

&c,

I take theliberty of giving^-

you

all the factsI have been able to collect in reference to the late mortality among- the fishes in

Tampa Bay

and ad- joining- coasts.

Had

I

known

before I

began my

cruise of the extent ofthis mortality

and

splendid opportunities afforded ofcollecting^-speci-

mens

ofstrangeand perhaps

unknown

species, I might have gonebet- terprepared forcollectingspecimens,butI

had

onlyhearda few

vague

rumors,

and

I

was

littlepreparedforanythingfurtherthan acollection offactsin regard tothe matter.

On

leavingClear Water,

November

20, I sailed south through

Boca

Ceiga Bay, and encountered the first dead fish floating on the water near Bird Key, alittlesoutheast ofPass A'Trilla. These were mullet,

and

as

we

progressed to the south and east I

began

to encountertoad- tish, eels, puff-fish

and

cow-fish, in

immense

numbers, and, on attempt- ing to land on theextremepoint of Point Pinellas forthenight, ^I

was

driven to

my

boat

by

the stench of thousands of rotting fish

upon

tin-

beach.

The

next

morning

1

went

ashoreand foundthe dead fishdrifted ashore in countlessnumbers.

The

eels appeared most numerous, fol-

lowed

by

puff-fish,

cow

fish,sailor'schoice,

and

small fishofeveryshape and variety. After these followed groupers,

mangrove

snappers,jew^-

fish, gar-pike, spade-fish, sting-rays, and sharks. Other varieties, un-

known

to me, were

mixed among

these, together with vast

numbers

of catfish. I

saw

very few mullet here.

At Gadsden

Point aboutthe

same

species appeared, whileat

Tampa

I

saw

but few dead fish, and they were principally gars and cattish.

From Tampa

1 proceeded to the

mouth

ofthe Little

Manatee

toobtain

some

information from Mrs.

Hoy

concerning her theory accountingfor the death of thefishes. I subsequentlyvisited the towns of Manatee, Palmetto, Bradentown,

and

proceededthencetoHunter'sPoint, inSar- asota Pass,Longboat Inlet being the farthestpoint southvisited. Re- turning, I spent severaldays on

Anna

Maria Key, whereI collected the skulls of several kinds of fish; thence, passing northward by

way

of Passage Key,

Egmont,

Mullet Key, and so on back to Clear Water.

From

LongboatInletroundtoMulletKey,thedeadfishwereprincipally mullet,catfish,eels,

and

groupers, the mulletpreponderatingat leastten toone. Puff-fish, toad-fish, cow-fish,

and

frog-fish were still extremely plentiful; indeed,I

saw

nodiminutionintheirnumbers, though the

num-

bers of dead mullet

had

increased very greatly.

I

saw many

fish inevery stage ofsickness, fromthefirst attack to the end. Allwereaffectedinnearly the

same

manner.

The

fish,apparently active and healthy, would be

swimming

along,

when

suddenlyitwould turn on its side

and

shoot

up

tothe top of the water,gasping as though outofthe water,apparentlyunable tocontrolitsmotions,oftenlyingon

itssideon thebottomfor fiveor tenminutesmotionless, then suddenly shootinghither

and

thither withoutaimorobject,

and

finallyendingthe struggle onthe surface

and

floating off dead.

Whole

schools of mul- let would suddenly stand uprighton theirtails,spouting water

and

die in fiveminutes. Garswould runfora long timewiththeirsnoutsabove the water,

and

thenliemotionless, asif dead, forten orfifteen minutes.

Thesegenerallylivedan houror

more

afterbeingattacked. ^Iobtained specimensofwater fromvariouslocalities,whichIsendherewith,

marked

to

show whence

obtained.

Before giving the statements of othersin regard to the matter,I will give you the resultsof

my own

observation in a verybrief manner:

1.

The

dead fish were most

numerous

onthe outside beaches and on the insidebeaches of the outerlineof keys.

2. That dead fishwere least

numerous

about the

mouths

of creeks

and

rivers, decreasing gradually as one approached suchplaces.

'').

That

the poisoned water

was

not diffused generally, but ran in

streamsof various sizes, as proven

by

fish dying in vast

numbers

in- stantly

upon

reaching such localities.

4.

That

the fish were killed

by

aspecific poison,as proven by the sickness

and

death ofbirds which ate of thedead fish.

5.

The

fish began dying onthe outside beaches first,as Mr. Strand, assistant light-keeper at

Egmont,

reports them

coming up

first on the 17th ofOctober, while Mrs.

Hoy

observed

them

firstonthe 1st or2dof

November,

at Little

Manatee

River.

G.

The

examination ot

many

hundred recently-dead fish revealed no signs of disease.

The

colors were bright, the flesh firm,

and

the gills rosy.

The

stomach

and

intestinesappeared healthy.

In

my

haste I have neglected tostate that I

saw

a good

many

dead birdsduring thetrip.

At Tampa,

ducks were dying. 1

saw

dead vul-

107

tores at

Anna Mark

Key, and at Passage Key, large flocks of cor-

morants were sick and dying'. I also

saw

the carcassesof terns, gulls.

and frigate birds.

The

cormorants sat on the beach with their heads undertheir wings, andcould be approached and handled.

It might be also properto statethaton

Monday

morning,

December

14, about one hourbefore day, I heard aroaring southwest of Passage Key. apparentlyfarout at Sea,resembling the ''blowingoff" ofasteam

boiler.

The

noise continued

some

ten minutes and ceased. After day- light ^I heard a similarroaring, which lasted aboutfiveminutes. There

was

no steamer in sight inthe directionof the sound,

and

Iobserved noswell intheseafollowingit. AfterIgotundersail Iheardthenoise a third time.

Whether

this

was

followed

by

the death of fish I

am

unableto say, as I did not stayto see. I mention this incidentally as a corroboration of Mrs. Hoy's statement, which is hereto appended.

Whether

ornoteither of these disturbances of the water

had

any con- nection with the mortality

among

the fishes,the theoryof sub-aqueous eruptions ofpoisonous gasesis extremelyplausible

and

reasonable.

Indian Eock,

FIorida, December21, 1880.

STATEMENT OF

MR.

WILLIAMS, OF POINT

PINELLAS.

The

fish began dying about the lastof Octoberhere. All kindsdie exceptred-fish. Eels

and

sea-toads aremost numerous, thoughallkinds die. I have seen only a fewsheepsheads. I think it is caused

by

a black

scum

on the water resembling soot.

When

a school of mullet get into water covered

by

thisblack scum, they die at once. Oysters areaffected

by

this also,

and

those

who

^eat of

them

are

made

verysick.

STATEMENT OF

MR.

SPENCER, OF THE TAMPA

TRIBUNE.

I wentout last

Sunday (November

28), expresslyto see for myself, and, if possible, to account for the dyingof thefishes in

Tampa

Bay.

I feelcertain, from

what

I saw, that itiscausedbyfreshwater from the creeks, rivers,

and

marshes.

The

water where the fish are dying looks black

and

slimy, very different from the usual colorof the

bay

water.

You

see there has been

an

unusual

amount

of rain thisfall, and this

becoming impregnatedwith tin¹poison ofdecayingvegetation,ispoured into the bay in unusual quantities and poisons the fish. This is

my

opinion,

and

Igive it for

what

it is worth.

The

oyster saloons here were obliged to close, as the oysters

came

nearkillingseveral people.

STATEMENT OF

MRS.

CHARLES

HOY,

OF LITTLE MANATEE.

"

The

fish began dying here about the 1st of November.

About

8

o'clock on the evening of October28, or thereabout, I

was

sitting on

my

front gallery, the air being perfectly still and the baycalm,

when

I heard a

heavy

splashing of the water in the direction of

Gadsden

Point. This continuedfora few minutesand

was

immediatelyfollowed

108 PROCEEDINGS OF

by a roaring sound, such ^as might be

made by

the wheelsof a side-

wheelsteamer nearathand,thoughthenoise seemedtobeseveralmiles away. This continued for about a quarter of an hour, as near as I

could guess,

when

itsuddenly ceased.

Some

25 or 30 minutes after-

wards heavyswells beganto

come up

the river,suchas

come

in during a heavy blow from the northwest. These continued for a long time, gradually becominglighter until I

went

to bed. In threedaysthefish

began to

come up

the river dead

and

dying. I caught severalmullet that were standing uprightinthe water,sick,and each

had

threeblack spotson the back, which graduallyfaded away. ^I openedthe fish and could see nothing the matter with them.

The

flesh

was

natural

and

firm, and the gills werenormal.

In regard tooysters I

have had

a rather rough experience,

and

can withcertaintysay that they are poisonous.

A

few days after the fish

began dying I

had

a quart of fine oystersfor dinner. I

had

a lady visitor on that day, but she did not like oysters

and

ate none.

My

daughter

and

I ate heartily of them, and afterdinner I took

my gun

and

went

out to a

pond

to shoot

some

ducks. Itook acolored

woman (my

cook) along,

and

beforeI had gotten half

way

I beganto feelweak, and a mist

came

before

my

eyes. Ikept on,however,to the pond,

and when

I reachedit

was

soblind I could not seethe ducks, although the water

was

covered with them.

With

the assistance of the colored

woman

^Igot home,

when

I found

my

daughter similarly affected

and

unable to walk. Neither Mrs.

Simms —

^{the visitor}

—

^nor

my

cookwere

affected, which

makes me know

it

was

^{the oysters.}

The

sickness

and

lossofvision gradually left us afterdrinking a cup of strongcoffee. I

am

confident thedeath ofthe fish iscaused

by

the discharge ofpoison- ous gasesfromthe bottomofthe sea.

STATEMENT OF

MESSRS.

FORGARTY AND WHITTAKER, SMACKMEN OF BRADENTOWN.

We own

a

smack and

^{fish off the coastfrom}

Egmont

south toChar- lotte Harbor.

Our

business is about ruined

by

the deathof the fish.

They

aredyingoff the coast as bad as inshore.

Our

fish die after

we

put

them

inthe well,frequently in fiveminutes.

We

^{cannot say}

^what

causesit, as

we

have no

means

of ascertaining.

The

poisonedwater runs in streaks, for often

when

three or four

smacks

are in

company

one or two will losealltheir fishin afewminutes, while theothers, ashort distance off, losenone. In one instance, three being incompany,

two

lostall theirfish, whileonelost none,the vesselsbeing onlyafew hun- dred yards apart.

STATEMENT OF

R. B.

STRAND,

ASSISTANT

KEEPER OF EGMONT

LIGHT.

The

fish first

came up

dead on the 17th of October in the following order: eels, cow-fish, toadfish, small fish, such as sailor'schoice, min-

NATIONAL MUSEUM. 109

liows,&c.; terrapins, ducks,

and

other sea-birdsfollowed.

The

water has theappearanceofbeing very slimy.

INCIDENT RELATED RY

MR.

HENDRICKS, POSTMASTER AT PALMETTO.

Mr. Dollythrew a cast-net into a school of mulletwhich appeared active

and

healthy. Before he landed

them

they werealldead in his net^;

and

looking back, thewhole school

was

floating dead on the sur- face.

THE GENERIC NAMES AMITRA WD ^TliVRls REPLACED.

By

O.

BROWN GOODE.

I

am

told

by my

friend ProfessorJordan that the

names Amitra

and Thyris, recentlyproposed

by me

for

two new

genera offishes, are pre- occupied in zoology. I wish to substitute for the former the

name

Monomitra; forthelatter the

name

Delothyris. MonomitraUparinawill consequently bethe

name

forthe 2/iparo-likefish notedin theProceed- ings (vol. iii, 1880, p. 478),

and

Delothyris pellucidus forthe transparent flounder,noticed inthe

same

volume,p. 344. Iwish also toexpress

my

thanksto ProfessorJordan for his actofcourtesy.

United States National Museum,

January 10, 1883.

SHELL BEDS

^I\

WESTCHESTER,

^{IV. Y.}

By UIERRITT WILLIS.

Along Pelham Bay

borderingon

Long

IslandSound,inthecounty of Westchester, State of

New

York, there are

numerous

shell beds.

On

the northwestside of the

bay

they are from 25 to 30 feet apart

—

^true

Kitchen Middens.

They

line the eastsideof the

bay

for

some

distance.

There isone covering

two

or threeacres, from which I havecollected arrow-points, spear-points, arrow-scrapers, pestles, stone axes, knives, sharpening-stones,pipes, stoneornaments, &c. I alsohavetaken from the shellbeds several bonescut off at the joint for

some

purpose. I

think they are the leg bonesofdeer.

I have collected in the

town

of Westchester alone

some

900 arrow

and

spear heads, besides axes, balls, pestles, and

numerous

otherim- plements.

Yours, respectfully,

MERRITT WILLIS.