FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



147 



The commercial importance of the smelt, one of our very best fish, is consid- 

 erable, but from a dollars and cents standpoint its sporting value to the coastwise 

 inhabitants of New England is probably greater, for smelt fishermen flock to the 

 harbors and stream mouths throughout the autumn. For instance, as many as 2,326 

 people have been counted fishing at one time about Houghs Neck in Boston Harbor 

 alone, and this same sort of thing is to be seen up and down the coast. So plentiful 

 are the fish on occasion and so greedily do they bite, especially on the flood tide, 

 that it is usual to number the catch about Massachusetts Bay by the dozens 

 rather than by the individual fish. Slii'imp are the best bait, bloodworms (Nereis) 

 second best, small minnows or clams a poor third, and smelt have also been taken on 

 a small red artificial fly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



I 



^^<^'^^ 





a. Adult, 6, : 



Fig. 59. — Argentina (Argentina silni) 

 After Schmidt, c, Larva, 23 millimeters. After Schmidt. 



d. Fry, 45 millimeter.s. After Schmidt. 



51. Argentine {Argentina silus Ascanius) 

 Herring smelt 



Jordan and Evermann, 1S96-1900, p. 526. 



Description. — The argentine is a smeltlike little fish with the pointed nose, 

 deeply forked tail, and slender, compressed body characteristic of the family, but it 

 has much larger eyes — a character no doubt associated -with its deep-water home — 

 than either smelt or capelin; its mouth is much smaller, not gaping back even as far 

 as the eye; and its dorsal fin stands wholly in front of the ventrals, instead of above 

 them as in both its near relatives. These characters, together with the presence of 

 an adipose fin above the anal that it shares only with smelt, capelin, the salmon 



