THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



363 



In 1898 the species was found for the State Museum at all Long Island localities 

 visited, Peconic Bay, Mecox Bay, the ocean at Southampton, and throughout Great 

 South Bay. Small individuals are sold in the markets as Whitebait. In the time 

 of DeKay the fish was called Anchovy and Sand Smelt and was esteemed a savory 

 food. Twent}- years before he wrote of the fishes of New York, it was caught from 

 the wharves and sold for bait. 



80. Striped Mullet {j\Iiigil ccplialus Linnreus). 



Mugil ccphalus Bean, 52d Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Mus., 103, 1900. 



Mugil alhula Bean, 19th Rept. Commrs. Fish. N. Y., 272, pi. XXI, fig. 26, 1890. 



Mugil Uneatus DeKav, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 144, pi. 15, fig. 42, 1842, New York. 



Color, darkish blue above; the sides silvery; exposed part of scales, especially of 

 eight or ten upper series, darker than body color, causing a striped appearance 



STRIPED MULLET. 



belly and lower part of sides yellowish ; ventral fins yellowish ; soft dorsal, anal and 

 ventrals dusky ; tip and base of pectoral dusky. 



The Striped Mullet grows to the length of 2 feet, but the average size in New 

 York waters is much less. 



The fish is known in Great South Bay as Mullet and Jumping Mullet; the name 

 Mullet is applied to it also in the Gulf of Mexico, and is in general use along the 

 east coast ; it is known in the Chesapeake as Mullet or Fatback. The latter name is 

 probably applied to more than one species. 



The Striped Midlct is known on our coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The young are much more abundant than the adults. In Great South Bay we 

 found the species not uncommon ; two examples were taken at the mouth of Swan 

 Creek, September 12. Several schools were present. We were informed that they 

 appear occasionally, and one gentleman of Patchogue was very successful in taking 

 this and its allied species with hook and line. DeKay states that the Striped Mullet 



