FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



451 



In the northeastern part of the Gulf hake feed far enough off bottom to capture 

 the pelagic eu'phausiid shrimps (Meganyctiphanes and Thysanocssa) so plentiful 

 there, while the general character of their diet is sufficient evidence that they do 

 not root in the ground like haddock. Ever since 1616, when Capt. John Smith 

 (1616, ed. 1819, vol. 2, p. 188) wrote "Hake you may have when the cod fades in 

 summer, if you will fish in the night," it has been common knowledge that they bite 

 best after dark, from which it is fair to assume they do most of their foraging 

 between sunset and sunrise. 



Herrick I8 has given an interesting account of the habits and perceptions of 

 squirrel hake in the tank at Woods Hole, where they proved to have keen sight, 

 though less so than pollock, and usually caught bits of meat before they sank, but 

 it seems that it was only whilefood was in motion that the fish recognized it by sight 

 and that they depend chiefly on the sense of touch for their livelihood. This they 



Fig. 221.— Hake fry (Urophycis), 15 millimeters. After A. Agassiz 



Fig. 222.— Hake fry (Urophycis), 34 millimeters. After A. Agassiz 



exercised by swimming close to bottom with the sensitive tips of the ventral fins 

 dragging the ground, and when a hake thus touched a fragment of clam, it im- 

 mediately recognized its palatability and snapped it up, but not otherwise, while 

 they paid no attention whatever to live clams in their shells, though frequently 

 brushing over them. These observations, applied to the conditions under which 

 hake actually live, suggest that they not only recognize shrimps, prawns, etc., by 

 their ventral feelers, but disturb them by the passage of the feelers over them, 

 snapping them up as they dart ahead. 



Rate of growth. — The rate of growth during the first few months can not be 

 stated until many more young fry have been measured and identified as one species 

 or the other. It is probable that two year classes are represented among the fry 

 caught along shore in summer, the smaller of 2 to 3 inches being from the earliest 

 spawned eggs of that season, and the larger ones (6 to 7 inches) yearlings. The 



18 Bulletin, United States Fish Commission, Vol. XXII, 1902 (1904), p. 258. 



