BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 115 



Some studies have been made on the biology of the mullet in North Caro- 

 lina waters. Adult and young fish are found dispersed in the sounds during 

 the summer. In the fall the fish congregate in schools and move to the inlets 

 and apparently wait for weather conditions favorable to their moving out. 

 Early fall runs (August and September) contain small fish less than a year 

 old. These are followed by the year-old fish, and later in the fall (October 

 and November) the adults school up and move to the inlets. These fish carry 

 spawn, indicating that this is a spawning migration. The fish move out of the 

 inlets in November and December, usually on a northerly wind (according 

 to old-timers) and spawn in the ocean. Spawning is believed to occur in the 

 vicinity of the inlets because within two or three weeks, young mullet are 

 found entering the inlets. After spawning, the schools break up and some of 

 the adult fish also begin moving into the inlets. Both the young and the old 

 fish apparently move in and out of the inlets with the weather during the 

 winter, and finally move into the sound in the spring. 



The fall spawning migrations described above are reported from North 

 Carolina by Smith (1907), from Florida by Hildebrand and Schroeder 

 (1928), and from Texas by Gunter (1945). All are similar in outline but 

 differ slightly regarding dates and extent of the spawning season. 



Little is known of the growth rate of the mullet. Nichols and Breder 

 (1926) report that the young, after the first summer's growth, have reached 

 an average length of about two and one-half inches (standard length, 

 measured from tip of snout to the end of spinal column). The adults may 

 reach a length of two and one-half feet, although the average size of mullet 

 taken commercially is less than eighteen inches. Nichols and Breder state that 

 mullet may spawn at an age of two years. 



The food of the mullet consists of a wide variety of plants and animals. 

 Dr. Coker reports, in Smith (1907), finding amphipods, annelids, shrimp, 

 and bivalve mullusk shells in fish examined at Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 during June and July. However, Nichols and Breder allude to a progressive 

 proportionate lengthening of the intestine as the fish ages, and suggest that 

 such a change may be correlated with a change in diet from one of plankton 

 to one containing a high percentage of higher marine plants. It is obvious, 

 therefore, that the mullet is omnivorous and perhaps takes its food largely 

 on the basis of availability without exercising a great degree of selection. 



The mullet fishery is a seasonal one, usually of short duration. Most of the 

 mullet are taken in seines during the period of the fall mass migration. The 

 average annual production in North Carolina is over three million pounds. 

 The handling and disposal of such a quantity in a space of a few weeks 

 becomes a definite problem. The price is usually low because of the flooded 

 market. About 95 per cent of the mullet are sold fresh; the rest are either 

 brine-cured, salted, or filleted and packaged. A small amount of mullet roe is 



