NATURAL HISTORY OF REDFISH, ETC., OF TEXAS 



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The first collection of young drum was taken on May 13, 1926, along the shores 

 of Corpus Christi Bay near the channel entrance leading into Oso Bay. (See Table 

 13.) The fish, ranging in length from 9 to 37 millimeters (0.4 to 1.5 inches), were 

 secured after a storm from several small, temporary pools along the beach, which 

 had been filled by the abnormal high water resulting from the heavy seas the day 

 previous. A strong current was flowing into Oso Bay from Corpus Christi Bay, 

 and it seemed unlikely that such small drum could have breasted the current and 

 come from Oso Bay to be washed up on the beach later along the shore line of Corpus 

 Christi Bay. It was far more reasonable to expect that the young had come from 

 Corpus Christi Bay and had been thi-own into the beach pools accidently while 

 endeavoring to gain the channel leading into Oso Bay. 



Table 13. — Collections of larval and young black drum {Pogonias cromis) taken in Texas, 1926 and 



1927 



To substantiate this idea was the fact that on the same day large collections of 

 small drum were secured within Oso Bay proper, and instead of taking smaller fish 

 than were taken in the pools by Corpus Christi Bay, as might be expected had the 

 young been hatched in Oso Bay, much larger and, hence, older fish were caught. 

 Table 14 gives the length distributions of these two collections. All other localities, 

 with the exception of Nueces Bay, failed to yield any young drum until some weeks 

 later, when a considerable size had been attained by all fish. (See Table 14.) It was 

 believed that spawning had terminated by the first of May with the sample of young 

 obtained on the 13th of the month, consisting of a group of fish spawned toward the 

 close of the spawning period. 



