NATURAL HISTORY OF REDFISH, ETC., OF TEXAS 



191 



m. 



LB5. 



LENGTH- 

 10 20 



CENTIMETERS 

 30 40 50 



60 70 



Many of the larger trout leave for the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico in 

 winter and in early spring enter the bays in order to spawn and feed. Commercial 

 line fishermen take advantage of this pronounced jnovement into the bays by fishing 

 in the more shallow passes, such as Corpus Christi, during the early spring months. 

 By May the movement virtually ceases, and the adults distribute themselves through 

 most of the bays. Many trout, both young and old, wander into brackish water, as 

 abundant collections of fish from such local- 

 ities as Aransas and Copano Creeks show. 



In Chesapeake Bay, the northern 

 range of the species, Hildebrand and 

 Schroeder (1928, p. 297) observed two defi- 

 nite periods of abundance — from March 

 to May and from September to November. 

 This fact probably is due to the same gen- 

 eral seasonal movements as were observed 

 along the Texas coast — the fish coming into 

 the shallower waters during the spring for 

 spawning and feeding and leaving in the 

 fall for deeper, warmer waters. In the vi- 

 cinity of Corpus Christi the warm waters 

 of the Gulf are near at hand, and conse- 

 quently all seasonal movements are less 

 pronounced than in the more northern 

 regions. 



Definite schooling prior to and during 

 spawning must occur to some extent, al- 

 though no very satisfactory evidence could 

 be obtained by the writer. It would ap- 

 pear from collections that small groups of 

 fish make up the spawning units at various 

 localities. This view would seem reason- 

 able for the extended spawning season is 

 hardly in accord with continued schooling 

 of adult fish. 



The larger trout travel in small 

 schools, as do the redfish, drum, and croak- fig. 32. 

 ers, but the movements of these schools are 



difficult to follow, possibly because of their aimlessness. Young, immature fish 

 usually are well scattered but generally are found in certain localities at all times. 



FOOD HABITS 



The food of the spotted trout, as indicated by an examination of the stomach 

 contents of 220 fish ranging in length from 6 to 60 centimeters (2.3 to 23.6 inches), 

 is composed largely of various species of marine shrimp and fish. Table 25 presents, 

 in percentages of the total number of fish in various length groupings, the preference 

 for definite organisms and also the percentage of the total number of fish of all sizes 

 15499—29 5 



3.9 



7.6 ll.a 

 LENGTH- 



23.6 275 



15.7 19.6 

 ■INCHED 



-Relation of weight to length in 154 spotted trout 



