BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 129 



ones having attained the size of the smaller ones from the previous year-class. 

 From this point on, it is difficult to follow the growth because the year-classes 

 are intermingled and the fish tend to school by size-groups rather than age- 

 groups. In New Jersey, Welsh and Breder (1923) report that spot reach a 

 length of three to four inches in their first year, indicating a somewhat slower 

 growth in the northern waters. In Texas, Pearson (1929) reports the first 

 year's growth as very similar to that in North Carolina. The difference in the 

 average adult size referred to above is due to the fact that in Texas, few fish 

 over two years of age are taken, whereas in North Carolina the commercial 

 catch is made up largely of fish not less than three years old. 



The age of first spawning is estimated to be two years. Hildebrand and 

 Schroeder (1928) found no fish under eight inches in October which were 

 ready to spawn, while Pearson (1929) found spot in Texas in spawning 

 condition at six and one-half to seven inches. These fish, however, were 

 approaching two years of age. The maximum age of spot has not been de- 

 termined because of the difficulty involved in "reading" the scales after two 

 years of age. 



The spot is a bottom feeder. The small fish feed largely on plankton. As 

 the fish grows, somewhat larger forms are taken. The food of the adult in- 

 cludes crustaceans, principally amphipods and ostracods, and also minute 

 mollusks, annelid worms, fish, and vegetable debris (Welsh and Breder, 1923; 

 and Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928). Large amounts of sand are also found 

 in stomachs, sometimes constituting fifty per cent of the stomach contents. 

 Whether the sand is taken intentionally or incidentally is unknown. 



Some spot are taken in Pamlico Sound during the summer in haul seines, 

 but the chief fishery occurs in the fall (October and November) when the 

 fish are migrating in schools from the inside waters to the offshore waters. 

 The fishery operates both inside and outside the inlets along the entire coast 

 from Ocracoke southward. Carteret County leads in production, but the 

 aggregate from the southern counties, New Hanover, Pender, Onslow, and 

 Brunswick, amounts to about a third of the State's production. 



CROAKER 



Micropogon undulatus (Linnaeus) 



The croaker is known from Massachusetts to Texas. The largest croaker 

 fishery is located in the Chesapeake Bay states, Virginia and Maryland, 

 where the croaker may be designated as the principal food fish. There it leads 

 all other food fish both in quantity and in value. The 1944 figures show a 

 harvest of 38 million pounds, valued at $2,017,732. Although the North 

 Carolina yield is considerably less, the croaker nevertheless occupies an 

 important place in the State's fisheries. 



