REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 95 



Reproduction : The breeding season is during the summer. At hatching 



the young are ^-inch in length (10 to 12 mm.) 

 References: 



1867: LocKwooD, Amer. Nat. I, 225. 



1881: Ryder, Bull. U. S. Fish Com. Vol. 1, 191. 



1887: LocKwooD, Amer. Nat. XXI, III. 



1905: Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXVIII, 805. 



1909: Ehrenbaum, Nordisches Plankton, 10, 322. 



ATHERINID^. The Silversides. 

 73. Menidia gracilis (Giinther). Silverside. 



Geog. Dist. : Woods Hole to Albemarle Sound, common in brackish waters. 

 From New England, this species is recorded only from Cape Cod, from 

 Buzzards Bay, and from Narragansett Bay. At Woods Hole it is re- 

 ported to be very abundant in summer, remaining longer than M. men- 

 idia (Smith). 



Season in R. I.: Present throughout the summer, but not nearly as com- 

 mon as M. menidia notata. 



Reproduction: Many ripe females taken during July at Woods Hole. 

 (For note on reproduction of this species and that of M. notata, see Bum- 

 pus, Science, N. S., Vol. 8, 1898, p. 850.) 



Size: Three or four inches. 



73. Menidia menidia notata (Mitchill.) Silverside; Brit. 



Geog. Dist.: Atlantic coast northward, south to Florida. Abundant 

 from Maine to Virginia. 



Season in R. I.: Present throughout the year, but is very abundant 

 everjnvhere from April to December. Along sandy shores, bushels of 

 them can often be taken in the seine almost unmixed with other fish. 

 Used to a great extent as bait for eel pots. 



Reproduction: Spawns in May, June, and early July, on sandy beaches. 

 Ryder thought this species to be a nocturnal spawner. The eggs are 

 held in clusters by means of filaments, a tuft of which is developed from 

 the pole of each egg. The females are larger than the males and in a 

 school seem to be more numerous. Out of 380 specimens of M. menidia 

 which were examined from Woods Hole, there were 204 females and 146 

 males. The females averaged 4.05 inches, the males 3.67 inches in length 

 (Kendall, Report U. S. Fish Com. XXVII, 1901, 241.) The eggs are 

 yellowish in color, and about 1.5 mm. in diameter. They hatch in about 

 ten days in the summer, and the larva when hatched is about 4 mm. in 

 length. 



