THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 425 



which is the Black Bass. Dr. Mitchill thus accounts for the name Weak fish: " He 

 is called Weak fish, as some say, because he does not pull very hard after he is 

 hooked ; or, as others allege, because laboring men who are fed upon him are weak 

 by reason of the deficient nourishment in that kind of food." DeKay explains the 

 name from the feeble resistance the fish makes on the hook and the facility with 

 which it breaks away from it by reason of its delicate structure. At the time of 

 DeKay's writing in 1842, and for some years previously, the Weak fish were present 

 on our coast in diminished numbers. The Blue fish were then present in abundance 

 and the disappearance of the Weak fish was supposed to be connected with the 

 reappearance of the Blue fish. A similar observation was made by Dr. Storer on 

 the Massachusetts coast. Again, at Woods Hole, Mass., in 1900, the Weak fish were 

 remarkably abundant, the traps at Menemsha having taken to.ooo in a single day; 

 the Blue fish, on the other hand, were unusually scarce during the entire season, not 

 over 50 having been recorded from the adjacent bay and sound. 



The Weak fish ranges from the Bay of Fundy to the east coast of Florida. It 

 fluctuates in abundance from year to year. The late Capt. N. E. Atwood is author- 

 ity for the statement that in 1845 the weekly supply in the New York markets was 

 not above 1,000 pounds. 



The earliest arrival in New York in 1889 was on May 12, at Great Hills, Gifford, 

 Staten Island. During the latter part of August, 1889, the west channel of 

 Great South Bay furnished great numbers of Weak fish. The young were found in 

 Blue Point Cove late in September; also some half-grown individuals. The fish 

 are in their finest condition during the fall migration in September and October. 



In 1901 young Weak fish were seldom taken in Great South Bay, and onl}- two 

 localities — Duncan's Creek and Smith's Point — furnished them in very small num- 

 bers. Adult fish, however, were remarkably abundant, and were caught in many 

 parts of the bay. 



The species feeds in the channels upon Shrimp, Crabs and small fish. In Great 

 South Bay we found them eating large quantities of Anchovies, and the same 

 observation was made in one of the inlets of Great Egg Harbor Bay, N. J. The 

 fish enters the mouths of rivers and migrates freely with the tide. 



The species swims in large schools near tiie surface and is very voracious, 

 destroying the young even of its own kind. A specimen of about 4 pounds, taken 

 at Islip, October i, i8go, had in its stomach a Weak fish weighing about 6 ounces. 

 Fish of 4 pounds and a little larger were moderately abundant at this date. 



Weak fish spawn in New York waters in May, and at Cape Cod about the first of 

 June. The egg is ^/js inch in diameter and hatches in two days at an average tern- 



