REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 127 



Calendar of Scup Season, off Newport, 1905-1909. 



First appearance 

 Run commences. 



Run ends 



Most abundant . . 



1905. 



1906. I 1907. 



May 1. April 20. 

 May 16. May 1. 

 June 25. I June 15. 



June 1 to 

 June 18. 



May 5 to 

 June 4. 



May 2. 



May 11. 



June 24. 



May 21 to 

 June 10. 



1908. 



April 23. 



April 29. 



June 9. 



April 29 to 

 June 1. 



1909. 



April 19. 



May 1. 



June 14. 



May 10 to 

 June 7. 



In the summer and fall of 1909 numbers of scup were often observed at 

 night, feeding near the edge of the water in Mill Cove, Wickford. One 

 of these specimens, taken August 13, 1909, measured 5 2-5 inches. In 

 1909, no specimens taken in Wickford Cove after October 8th. 

 Reproduction: The first runs consist largely of mature fishes filled with 

 spawn. Fishermen say that the scup spawn when confined in the 

 pounds; the eggs hatch in a very few days, and the young can often 

 be seen swimming around on the surface with the yolk sac visible. 

 As they grow older, they continue to remain in and around the pounds 

 for some considerable time. Spawning season begins with the arrival 

 of the first schools on our shores (last of April or the first of May), and 

 continues until nearly the first of July. On April 30, 1906, 25 speci- 

 mens were taken in Sand Blow trap, some of which had ripe eggs. 

 Eggs taken from the female were artifically fertilized June 5, 1908. 

 Eggs 1-27 inch in diameter with small oil globule. Eggs hatch in four 

 days in water 62°. "The female fish of the second year not infre- 

 quently contains mature eggs" (Baird, 1871). 

 Enemies: Bluefish, cod, halibut, shark, squeteague. 

 Food: Invertebrates chiefly, though small fishes are sometimes found in 

 the stomachs of large specimens. Mollusks, Crustacea, annelids, 

 squids, hydroids, and crepidula; have been identified in the stomach 

 contents. Stomachs of small specimens usually contain chiefly cope- 

 pods and other small Crustacea. 

 Peck found the food of the scup to be somewhat varied, but the animals 

 upon which it feeds are the same general character as belong to the 

 bottom fauna. He found " in fish taken by the hook and line, a great 

 quantity of amphipods, some of the compound ascidians (Leptoclinum), 

 many small lamellibranch molluscs, and at times very many of the 

 sand-dollars (Echinarachnius parma) ground up with sand and deep 

 black mud of the bottom from which they were feeding, just above 



