FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 185 



over the shallows of Georges and Browns Banks, v/hence they have been brought 

 in to the Bureau of Fisheries by fishermen on several occasions.^' They are very 

 abundant on the Grand Banks, but there is no reason to suppose that they regularly 

 inhabit the central deeps of the Gulf of Maine unless some of them repair thither in 

 winter, though it would not be surprising to find an odd sand eel in deep water 

 even in summer, as this happens in north European waters. In fact we towed a 

 young one about 1|4 inches long over the deep basin southeast of Grand Manan 

 on June 10, 1915. 



The chief center of abundance for launce within the lunits of the Gulf is along 

 the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Here one may see schools of them throughout the 

 summer in shoal water close in to tide mark, swimming with the curious undulating 

 motion so characteristic of them. In some years they are also plentiful there 

 during the winter, when great numbers are cast on the beach in stormy weather. 

 About Woods Hole, too, sand eels are to be taken in shallow water on sandy flats 

 throughout the year, but they are never as plentiful there in winter as in fall and 

 spring; and since general diminution seems to take place in their numbers close 

 inshore during the cold months in the northern part of their range, it is probable 

 that a considerable proportion of the local stock moves out into deeper water for 

 the winter, to return in spring, just as most of the launce do in north European seas. 

 In Scandinavian waters this vernal inshore movement takes place in May as the 

 coast waters warm up, and probably their schedule is much the same in the Gulf of 

 Maine, judging from its temperature. On the other hand the sand eels may be 

 expected to leave the shallower bays in midsummer when the water there is at its 

 warmest, to work in again in early autumn, such being their habit about Woods 

 Hole. 



Habits. — The most interesting habit of the sand eel is its custom of burying 

 itself several (4 to 6) inches deep in the sand, into which it burrows with great 

 speed, thanks to its pointed snout. This the launce often does above low-water 

 mark to await the return of the tide, where they are dug up by clammers, and I 

 have often seen them vanish in this way with surprising rapidity when alarmed. 

 It has been suggested that they spend a large part of the time so buried, and that 

 their sudden appearances and disappearances, oft commented on, are to be explained 

 thus, rather than as evidence of their wanderings or migrations. Whether this 

 habit is followed only in the shoal water where it has come under direct observation, 

 or whether they also burrow into deeper bottoms, is not known. The burrowing 

 habit is for refuge, but is not always successful, for, as Smitt ■* remarks, porpoises 

 have been seen rooting them out. 



Sand eels are omnivorous, feeding on all sorts of small marine animals, but 

 chiefly on small Crustacea, especially copepods, and on fish fry, including their 

 own kind. In Scandinavian waters, indeed, the larger ones seem to live chiefly on 

 the smaller. Worms have also been found commonly in the stomachs of sand eels, 

 but it is not likely that they catch these while burrowing, as some writers have 

 suggested. 



«> Report, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1879 (1882), pp. 808. 812, 814, and 817. 

 ** Scandinavian Fishes, 1892. 



