160 AMERICAN FISHES. 



Forest and Stream,, June 25, 1874, stated that L. Hathaway, Esq., a 

 veteran fisherman, while fishing from the bridge at Cohasset Narrows. 

 Mass., with rod and reel, captured a Bluefish weighing twenty-five pounds. 

 The largest previously caught weighed seventeen pounds. 



On getting back to the Carolina coast in the early part of November, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Yarrow's statement, they are from three to five feet in length 

 and weigh from ten to twenty pounds. What becomes of these large fish, 

 that so few of them are seen in the early spring, it is impossible to say. 

 If it be really true that they are much scarcer than in the tall, we may 

 infer that their increased size makes them a more ready prey to the larger fish 

 and cetaceans, or that they have accomplished their ordinary period of 

 life ; possibly that they have broken up into smaller parties, less conspicu- 

 ous to observation, or that they have materially changed their locality. 

 The average length of the fish that appear in the spring oft the coast of 

 Virginia and the southern part of New Jersey, according to Dr. Coues, 

 Dr. Yarrow and Prof. Baird, is about one foot, being probably about one 

 year old. As a general rule, those of the smaller size keep close to 

 the shore and can always be met with, while the larger ones go in schools 

 and remain farther outside. 



Prof. Baird obtained no very young fish at Woods Holl in 1871, the 

 smallest found making their appearance quite suddenly along the coast, 

 especially in the little bays, about the middle of August, and then 

 measuring about five by one and one-fifth inches. By the end of Septem- 

 ber, however, these had reached a length of seven or eight inches, and at 

 the age of about a year they probably constitute the twelve or fourteen 

 inch fish referred to as occurring along the southern coast. The fish of 

 the third year, or those two years old, are possibly the three-pound fish, 

 while the five to seven pound fish may be considered a year older still. 

 Accurate observations are wanting, however, to determine these facts ; 

 as also whether they require two years, or three or more, to attain suffi- 

 cient maturity for breeding. As far as I know, there is no appreciable 

 difference between the sexes in their rate of growth or weight, excepting 

 that the female is likely to be a little deeper in the body. 



A Bluefish weighing one pound measures about fourteen inches ; two 

 pounds, seventeen inches ; three pounds, twenty-one inches ; four pounds, 

 twenty-four inches ; five pounds, twenty-six inches; six pounds, twenty- 

 six to twentv-seven inches, and eight pounds, twenty-nine inches. 



