1 1 6 AMERICAN FISHES. 



In the night they are much in the habit of running up the creeks in the 

 salt meadows, where they are sometimes taken in great numbers by inter- 

 posing between them and the sea, just before the period of high water. 

 This experiment is not a very satisfactory one on the coast of New Jersey, 

 in consequence of the abundance of crabs. The smaller fish become 

 gilled in the net meshes, thus inviting the attacks of the crabs, which cut 

 the nets to pieces, often ruining them in a single night." 



When taken, the Squeteague makes a peculiar croaking, audible at a 

 considerable distance ; and it is said that this is not unfrequently heard 

 from a boat when passing over a school of them in the water beneath. 



The Sea Trout, or Deep-water Trout, of Charleston, described by Hol- 

 brook under the name Otolitluts thalassinus, is without much question 

 identical with the Northern Squeteague, although that author states that 

 it differs from this fish entirely in its habits, since it is only found in the 

 ocean and deep water, and never approaches the bays and inlets along the 

 coast, while it is a larger animal. 



The few specimens which Holbrook saw were taken off Charleston Bar, 

 about twenty miles from land and in about fifteen or twenty fathoms of 

 water. The very peculiarities which he mentions are characteristic of 

 the adult Squeteague. 



The Spotted Squeteague, Cynoscion maculatum, is a species associated 

 with the Squeteague in the waters off the coast of New Jersey and on the 

 eastern shore of Virginia. It belongs to the same genus, but somewhat 

 different, being characterized by the presence of well-defined dark spots. 

 It becomes more abundant as we proceed southward, until off the coasts of 

 North Carolina and Georgia, where it is one of the most abundant food- 

 fishes. Owing to its shape and the presence of well-marked spots on the 

 sides it is usually known on the southern coast as the "Salmon" or' 

 " Spotted Trout," and there are not wanting sportsmen in the Southern 

 States who maintain with dogmatic earnestness the existence of a true 

 Salmon Trout in the waters of their coast. The early colonists of the 

 Carolinas knew full well that the trout was a spotted fish, and that it was 

 a most desirable fish withal ; their warm streams had no genuine trout, 

 and they could not carry in their untrained minds the image of the trout 

 of England, so very different from Cynoscion. A much better name for it 

 would be "Spotted Squeteague." It is difficult, however, to bring 

 about a change in a name which has been in use for several generations. 



