FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 389 



shelf abreast of southern New England in depths of from 50 down to 300 fathoms, 

 a fact proven by the capture of great numbers of them, and of all sizes from fry of 

 one-half to 3 inches to adults of 12 to 18 inches, green, ripe, and spent, by the vessels 

 of the United States Bureau of Fisheries.^* Probably it is this body of silver hake 

 and not the Gulf of Maine fish that are sometimes common at Woods Hole in sum- 

 mer and that congregate along the shores of southern New England for a brief 

 period in autumn, to vanish, however, in winter. 



The wintering ground of the Gulf of Maine stock of silver hake is not definitely 

 known. Analogy with the European species suggests that the bottom along the 

 upper part of the continental slope so serves, and this is corroborated by the fact 

 that on February 20 to 21, 1920, the Albatross trawled several specimens in 90 and 

 190 fathoms along the continental edge off Chincoteague, Va., and off Delaware 

 Bay, together with spiny dogfish {SquaJus acanthius, p. 47). Once the silver hake 

 have journeyed out past Cape Cod and Georges Bank there is no reason to suppose 

 they turn southward, but rather that they simply descend the slope until they find 

 suitable physical surroundings, whether of temperatm-e, salinity, or of absolute depth. 

 Definite information on this point is much to be desired, and tliis may be hoped 

 for from scale studies, which, by revealing the existence df local races on different 

 sections of the coast, differing in their rate of growth,'^ have afforded positive 

 evidence that the migrations of the European hake are primarily in and off shore, 

 not north and south. 



While sojourning in the Gulf of Maine silver hake are caught regularly 

 from the surface (for they come right up to tide mark) down to 40 or 50 fathoms, 

 and they have been trawled down to 100 fathoms and more in its basin even in 

 summer, and to 300 fathoms on the continental slope, as just noted. In short, 

 this fish is independent of depth within wide limits, and of the bottom, inhabiting 

 the mid-levels of the sea, its movements governed by spawning and by the pur- 

 suit of food. It is a very interesting fact that all the great armies of silver hake 

 that enter the traps and strand on the beaches of the Gulf of Maine are composed 

 of good-sized individuals of 8 inches and longer, and that immature fish from year- 

 lings on, such as make up the greater part of the catch of herring, are so rare that 

 most of the local fishermen of whom we have inquired know nothing of them 

 north of Cape Cod except that fry about 3 inches long, hence probably of the 

 same summer's hatch, have been reported to us as found on the flats at Plymouth. 

 Huntsman, however, reports all stages from yearlings on in the Bay of Fundy. 

 Such evidence at face value might indicate that adults actually dominate the 

 bodies of silver hake in most parts of the Gulf of Maine, most of the immature fish 

 lingering nearer their wintering ground; but an equally reasonable and far more 

 probable explanation is that immature fish are in reality as plentiful in the inner 

 parts of the Gulf as the abundance of adults suggests, but that they are not 

 caught in the traps because they do not come so close inshore. 



Food and habits. — Silver hake are strong swift swimmers, well armed and 

 extremely voracious. They prey on herring and on any other of the smaller school- 

 ing fish, such as young mackerel, menhaden, alewives, silversides, etc.; also on 



" These records are listed by Goode and Bean, 1896, p. 387. 



" Belloc. Notes et Memoirs No. 21, Offlce Scientiflque et Technique des PSches Maritimes, Janvier 1923, 32 pp. Paris. 



