100 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



THE YOUNG OF MENHADEN. Very little work has been done on the young 

 of the menhaden, although its rate of growth for the Gulf of Maine seems to 

 have been reliably and adequately worked out by Bigelow and Welsh (1925). 

 They found that menhaden that were spawned in the summer attained a 

 length oi 2% to 3>4 inches (6-8 cm.) the first winter and averaged slightly 

 more than 6% inches (16 cm.) the second winter, while those spawned in 

 the fall grew to i}i inches (3 cm.) the first winter and 5 inches (13 cm.) the 

 second. Between these extremes there are all gradations depending upon the 

 exact time of spawning. Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928), writing of the 

 Chesapeake area, give slightly different values. They rate the first-year-old 

 fish at 5^ inches and the second-year-old fish at 8^ inches. 



The young fish apparently have a very high tolerance of salinity and tem- 

 perature, seemingly enjoying an environment that varies from slightly brack- 

 ish water to one with the salinity of sea water. They are found forty-five 

 miles up the Hudson River (Westman and Bidwell, 1948) and at the same 

 time in Long Island Sound. Their tolerance of temperature is apparently 

 greater than that of the adult. Bean (1903) found that adult menhaden could 

 not survive in an aquarium if the water dropped below 50° F. On the other 

 hand, Kendall (1910) reports on observations by Edwards in which young 

 menhaden 2 to 6 inches long survived without harmful effects a temperature 

 of 31.5° F. They swam on their sides at 30° F. and died only "when it became 

 much colder and snowed." 



FOOD AND FEEDING 



FOOD. Before 1894 it was generally believed by laymen and scientists that 

 menhaden subsisted on mud and silt, although as early as 1879 the engineer 

 on a menhaden steamer observed and pointed out that menhaden "feed on 

 floating crustaceans" (Goode, 1879). In 1894 Peck published the findings of 

 observations made by him the previous year at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 

 The work of Peck is important for it positively identified the food of the 

 menhaden and established the menhaden as one of the prime converters of 

 basic food. 



Peck's investigations were complete and thorough. He examined the 

 stomach contents of the fish and, by means of the devices available at the 

 time, explored the waters in which the menhaden fed. He also estimated the 

 speed at which the fish moved through the water, calculated the volume of 

 water strained, and examined and described the gill mechanism by means of 

 which they were able to filter out the microscopic plants and animals which 

 serve as their food. 



He found that the food of the menhaden consisted, not of bottom mud 

 and silt as had been supposed for thirty years, but of small microscopic plants 



