BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 89 



abuudauce is judged by the quantity caught, I thiuk that the diifereuce 

 may He more iu the uumber of flshiug days (pleasant ones) than in the 

 real numbers of fish present. The sizes of Pompano that make uj) these 

 schools are large or adult fish averaging 12 or 14 inches in length, and 

 small fish (probably one year old) averaging 8 inches in length. The 

 largest Pompano that I have seen measured 19^ inches in length, and 

 weighed G^ ijouuds, the extremely large fish called Pomi^ano, of two or 

 three times that size, probably being another species. After entering 

 the bays the schools of Pompano break up, and the fish scatter to all 

 parts where the water is salt and there are good feeding-grounds. Ex- 

 cept single individuals that are taken now and then, nothing is seen of 

 Pompano until late in the fall, when they are bound seaward. In regard 

 to its spawning habits nothing very definite has been learned. It has 

 spawn half developed when it arrives and has none when it leaves the 

 bays. Large quantities of the fry are seen in the bays all summer, 

 which is some proof of its spawning inside. In June, 1878, I caught 

 specimens of the fry, varying in size from three-quarters of an inch to 

 3 inches in length. Very many schools of these sizes were also observed 

 in July and August, of the same and following years of 1879-80. 



"The schools of fry go to sea in August and September. The older or 

 adult fish leave the coast in September and October in small schools, 

 that are only seen and caught at the inlets where they happen to cross 

 shoals or follow the beach. These Pomjiano of the fall are verj fat and 

 in every way superior to those caught iu the spring. As before men- 

 tioned, the Pompano is found on the South Florida coast all the year. 

 The sea-beach from Tampa Bay to Charlotte's Harbor seems to be its 

 favorite feeding-ground, owing to the quantity of shell-fish that occur 

 there. It does not form in large schools as in the Pensacola region, and 

 therefore is not taken in such large quantities by seine fishermen. 



" Smacks from Mobile and Pensacola sometimes go to Tampa Bay for 

 them. I have been told that Pompano are caught at Key West iu con- 

 siderable quantities by hook and line, and I have known of a few being 

 taken in that manner at Pensacola. It feeds entirely upon small shell- 

 fish, which are crushed between the bones of its pharyngeal arch." 



The Pound Pompano. 



(T. ovatus.) 



The Pound Pompano (T. ovatus), sometimes called the Shore Pom- 

 pano, is at Pensacola known by the name " Gaff- topsail," and in the 

 Bermudas by the name "Alewife." This fish is very often confused by 

 market -Tuen with the Carolina Pompano, and I have seen them sold 

 together under the same name in the Charleston market, just as I have 

 seen the young of four species of the herring family sold indiscrimi- 

 nately in New York. 



The Pound Pompano is cosmopolitan in its distribution, occurring in 



