276 BULLETIN OF THE BITREAU OF FISHERIES 



at a temperature of 68° to 70°; the newly hatched larvte are 1.75 mm. long, growing 

 to about 2.2 mm. in 24 hours, by which time most of the yolk has been absorbed. 



The rays of the ventral fins are visible in larvae of 6.5 mm. At 12.5 mm. the 

 larval finfold has disappeared, the fins are fully formed, and the sides are barred 

 with four dusky bands. From this stage onward the family relationship of the 

 young fry is made evident by the short anal and long second dorsal fins, and at 

 30 mm. they have attained most of the structural characters of the adult; but until 

 they are 6 to 8 inches long the young weakfish are much deeper and more compressed 

 than their parents, their heads and eyes are relatively larger, and their caudal fins 

 are obtusely pointed, with the center rays much the longest, instead of concave. 

 The smaller fry (of IJ^ to 3 inches) are marked with four dark, saddle-shaped 

 patches extending downward on the sides to slightly below the lateral line, which are 

 not obliterated until the length of about 43^ inches is attained. As the young fish 

 grow, other bands of pigment are interpolated below the lateral line, the adult 

 coloration not being fully developed until the length of 7 to 8 inches is reached." 



Rate of growth. — Weakfish fry grow at such a rapid rate during the first sununer 

 that, according to Welsh and Breder, fish hatched June 1 will average 1 ]4 inches in 

 length on July 1 (1 month),3i/g inches on August 1 (2 months), 5Vg inches on Sep- 

 tember 1 (3 months), &% inches on October 1 (4 months), and 73^ inches on Novem- 

 ber 1 (5 months). Growth practically ceases during the first winter, and the 

 smallest fish seen in spring (no doubt yearlings) are 8 to 10 inches long. Thereafter 

 the rate of annual growth is much slower, but the variation in the length attained 

 by the fry during their first summer and autumn, consequent on the protracted 

 spawning season, combined with the fact that scale studies of this species have 

 proved puzzling, makes it difficult to group the older age classes by size. 



Welsh and Breder estimated the ages of 74 fish of different sizes from Cape 

 May, N. J., as S}/^ inches at 1 year, 11 inches at 2 years, 13 inches at 3 years, and 

 141/8 inches at 4 years of age, and Taylor estimated the length of 6-year-olds as 

 about 22 inches, of 7-year-old fish as about 24 inches, but a 9-year-old example 

 (age judged from the scales) examined by Welsh and Breder was only 1934 inches 

 long. Females usually mature at 3 to 4 years of age, males at 2 to 3 years, and both 

 sexes spawn annually thereafter. Welsh and Breder found most of the spawning 

 fish at Cape May to be 4 to 6 years old. 



Commercial importance. — At the present time the weakfish is of no commercial 

 importance in the Gulf of Maine, but during its brief periods of plenty there it is a 

 very valuable addition to the shore fisheries of Massachusetts Bay. Along more 

 southern coasts, where it occurs regularly, it is one of the most important of food 

 fishes ^* and a favorite game fish. 



" Tracy (Thirty-eighth Annual Report, Commissioners o( Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island, January Session, 1908, pp. 85-91) , 

 Eigenmann CBulletin, U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. XXI, 1901 (1902), p. 45), and Welsh and Breder (1924, p. 154) describe the 

 older larvae and fry. 



" The annual catch of the three species of squeteague combined ( Cynoscion risalis, C. nebulosus, and C. notiis), for the Atlantic 

 and Gulf coasts, is upward of 40 million pounds ,of which the weakfish probably contributes more than one-half. 



