Tilly is... A Barrelfish!

Hi Everyone:

Lots of you will remember the unusual dark-coloured little fish who was swimming around the Big Dock this past summer.  Camper Michael Ellis and his Dad, Bill, used the Minnow trap and an earthworm as bait and caught this fish in July.  We have been keeping the little fish, who campers named Tilly, in a warm water aquarium at The Cottage ever since.

 

Tilly has grown about 30% larger since July. We fed her with a mixture of frozen and live shrimp, which she loves.

Last week, I carefully moved Tilly to the Museum of Natural History to show her to John Gilhen, an expert on Nova Scotian fish.  John confirmed that Tilly is a Barrelfish (Palinurichthys perciformis), a member of the Rudderfish family. The last time a fish like Tilly was reported in Nova Scotian waters was more than 30 years ago, and that fish was caught in a fishing net outside Hubbard’s Cove only 10 kilometers from The Big Dock where Tilly was caught.  John suspects that Tilly came in with the warm Gulf Stream waters this summer, and she is considered an uncommon visitor to our shores in the summer. At about 10 cm long, Tilly is still juvenile.  She will be as much as 60 cm (2 feet) in length when she’s an adult, at which point I'll be a little worried that she’ll be eating my furniture!

 
To learn more about this special fish, visit The Gulf of Maine Research Institute at http://www.gma.org/fogm/Palinurichthys_perciformis.htm

 

Peace, Love, and Tilly!

-The IPYNC Staff