278 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 

 Position of Young in Gravid Examples of Oymatogaster aggregatus. 



Color of female in life, silvery; back olive-greenish <>r brassy; side with 2 broad vertical brassy 

 bars, between which and in front and back of which the scales are whitish, and with a large black blotch 

 of small specks; top of head olive; belly white; dorsal and caudal olive, other fins white. 



"Surf-fish" is a very appropriate name for this little species. During the spawning season it swarms 

 in great numbers in the surf or in shallow water along sandy shores. Every haul of the seine at Kilisut 

 Harbor and about Nanaimo and Fort Rupert resulted in the capture of great numbers. 



The spawning season on the coast from Puget Sound In Fort Rupert is evidently during the last 

 days of June and the first days of July, and the fish seem to come into shallow water along the shore to 

 liberate their young. There is evidence indicating that the more quiet, shallow reaches of shore are 

 then selected as affording the least danger to the delicate- young fish. The fact that numerous females 

 captured at Karta Pay July 11 were all spent fish indicates that the spawning period is a brief one. 



The number of females seems to be in excess of the males. Of 90 fish examined at Fori Rupert, 66 

 were females, and about the same proportion held elsewhere. The preponderance of females may, 

 however, be more apparent than real. The males are considerably smaller than the females, and it 

 may well be that some were overlooked in the mass of material resulting from each seine haul. 



The white surf-fish will take the hook, but is too small to be of much interest as a game fish. It 

 is said to be a very fair pan fish. 



67. Taeniotoca lateralis i Agassiz i. IUm Perch; Striped Svrf-fish. 



The only example seen was seined at Kilisut Harbor, July 1. * lolor in life, reddish brassy, greenish 

 on head and bark: side and back with many narrow, pale bluish lines, half width of brassy interspaces; 

 underparts paler brassy: tins dusky brassy. 



