362 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



79. Silversides ; Friar ; Whitebait {Mcnidia notata Mitchill). 



Atherina notata Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 446, 1815; DeKay, N. Y. 



Fauna, Fishes, 141, pi. 28, fig. 88, 1842, New York. 

 Atherina viridescens Mitchill, op. cit., 447, 1815, N. Y. 

 Chlrostoiiia notatiiin Goode & BE.'iN, Bull. Essex Inst., XI, 21, 1879. 

 Atherina menidia DeKay, op. rit., 142, pi. 74, fig. 236, 1842, N. Y., not of Linn/Eus. 

 Menidia notata Bean, Bull. U. S. F. (L, VII, 146. 1888 ; 19th Rept. Commrs. Fish. N. 



Y., 271, 1890. 



Tran.slucent green ; lateral band silvery, mostly on the level of the eye, its width 

 less than one-half the diameter of eye. Scales of upper parts with dark dots along 

 their edges; chin speckled. 



The Common Silversides grows to a length of 6 inches. 



The Silversides was first made known by Dr. Mitchill under the name of Small 

 Silverside, Atherina notata, and he described the young of the same species as the 





silversides. 



Green-Sided Silverside, Atlicrina viridescens. Dr. DeKay states that the Silversides 

 was known in the harbor of New York as the Anchovy and the Sand Smelt. Friar 

 is a New England name for the species ; Capelin is in use about Boston, and Merit 

 fish in the vicinity of Watch Hill. Sperling is a name recently applied to this 

 species by some fishermen, and we have known persons to offer the Silversides as 

 Whitebait. In Great South Bay it is known as Shiner. 



The Silversides is known to occur on the coast from Maine to Virginia. It is 

 one of the most abundant of the small fishes in our waters, swimming in immense 

 schools made up of fish of different sizes, and it forms a considerable part of the 

 food of more valuable species, such as the Mackerel, Bluefish, Weakfish and 

 Flounders, and is very much in demand as a bait for hook and line fishing. We 

 seined the Silversides in all parts of Great South Bay, and found it to be one of the 

 most abundant and characteristic species. 



The Common .Silversides, or Spearing, lives in Gravesend Bay almost all the 

 year, hibernating in spring holes in winter. It is well suited for a captive life and 

 can endure a temperature of Ji}4° '"^ *'"'" ^-ilt water. 



