ABSTRACT 



Plankton collections made at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Va., yielded specimens 

 of 45 species of marine fishes that were recognized. As a result of these weekly collections 

 during the summer and biweekly collections during the winter, from May to October 1929, 

 from April to December 1930, and during January and March 1931, sufficient data were 

 acquired to provide distributional and descriptive data on 31 of the 45 species recognized. 



Larval and postlarval stages of the gray sea trout, or weakfish, Cynoscion regalis; the 

 bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix; the butterfish, Poronotus triacanlhus; the harvestfish, Peprilus 

 alepidolus; and the stargazer, Astroscopus guttatus, are described and illustrated. 



Collections of juvenile gray sea trout by seine and trawl indicate that this food fish 

 attains an average total length of 16 to 20 cm. at the end of its first year of growth in lower 

 Chesapeake Bay. 



