BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 271 



and early November. The croaker frequents bays and shallow water over 

 grassy bottom, feeding on small fishes, crustaceans and mollusks. 



The most productive commercial fishing grounds for this fish are off 

 Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina in spring and fall. It is not popular 

 enough as a game fish to attract anglers from any distance whatever. 



DOLPHIN 



Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus) 



The dolphin is one of North Carolina's most important game fishes. It is 

 a Gulf Stream fish, occurring on the same grounds with the amberjack and 

 in sufficiently large and certain numbers to attract offshore anglers. It is 

 variously reported as good and poor eating, but has no commercial value. 

 It is particularly abundant on the flying fish grounds off Diamond Shoals. 



Although this fish is common in so many places all over the world that an 

 angler has a wide choice, its presence, combined with other attractions, is 

 sufficient to attract anglers from a distance. There is also always the alluring 

 chance of snaring a marlin or a sailfish on dolphin grounds, as well as the 

 certainty of getting as many amberjack as anyone could want. The dolphin 

 is very widely distributed all over the world. On our Atlantic coast we find 

 it running north to Cape Cod, and on our Pacific, north to Oregon. There 

 are concentrations in Florida and Mexico. It is definitely an outside, off- 

 shore fish, partial to blue water. Light or medium tackle is used in trolling 

 for it. It averages in general under 25 pounds, but the rod and reel record, 

 taken off Oahu, T.H., weighed d^Yz pounds. Off North Carolina its usual 

 weight is about 12 pounds. Its food consists of flying fishes, mullet, and other 

 small fishes. 



Young dolphin differ greatly in appearance from the adult. Liitken (1880) 

 figures a series of young. C. M. Breder (1929) reports that dolphin spawn in 

 spring in the West Indies; Ocean City, Maryland, reports numerous dolphin 

 in July and August and numerous large schools of small ones; Beaufort re- 

 ports young of about 12 inches as plentiful in late summer. In general, they 

 are present from June to October the length of the coast. Both C. hippurus 

 and a smaller species, C. equisetis (Linnaeus) have been recorded from the 

 State; the latter off Cape Lookout. 



The dolphin exhibits great speed when chasing its favorite food, the flying 

 fish, and great strength and fighting ability when hooked. 



* SPANISH MACKEREL 



Scomberomorus maculatus (Mitchill) 



This fish is caught only incidentally as an angler's fish in North Carolina 

 and quite frequently confused with the cero, from which it is easily dis- 

 tinguished by the relative position of the dorsal and anal fins, and by its 



