28 UNUTILIZED FISHES. 



greenish color on the back and sides and orange-yellow below, with 

 numerous spots of white or yellow scattered over the body. Jordan 

 and Evermann give the distribution, " Coast of Maine to the "Rio 

 Grande, everywhere very common in brackish waters, often burying 

 itself in the mud in shallow lagoons."" 



FOOD. 



Upon this subject Linton (1899) says: 



The following fish from Waquoit Bay were examined in 1899: August 7, 

 twenty-six, alimentary canals tilled with green mud, consisting of a variety 

 of vegetable debris, enormous numbers of diatoms and foraminifers in con- 

 siderable number. August 28, twenty-two, alimentary canals filled with vege- 

 table material (eel grass, etc.). A specimen from Katama Bay, August 28, 

 1900, had a shrimp and other small crustaceans in the alimentary tract. 



EXAMINATION OF DIGESTIVE TRACTS. 



The tabulated statement made up from my examination of 134 

 specimens shows that the killifish consumes an enormous number of 

 diatoms. In many cases the whole alimentary canal was packed full 

 of these organisms, mostly of the genus Pleurosigma. Small crus- 

 taceans like prawns and sand fleas constitute the principal food of this 

 fish, however. The number it consumes amounts to millions each 

 year. The alga? noted in the stomachs were of the red, brown, and 

 green kinds, and were probably, taken in with the small crustaceans 

 which were living upon them, the latter being the food sought by the 

 fish. In these observations the common killifish was not found to 

 prey on any living forms of direct value to man. 



