THE BLUE FISH. 155 



the average of their captures, there still remains an appalling aggregate 

 of destruction. While the smallest Bluefish feed upon the diminutive fry, 

 those of which we have taken account capture fish of large size, many of 

 them, if not capable of reproduction, being within at least one or two 

 years of that period. 



" It is estimated by very good authority that of the spawn deposited by 

 any fish at a given time not more than thirty per cent, are hatched, and 

 that less than ten per cent, attain an age when they are able to take care 

 of themselves. As their age increases, the chances of reaching maturity 

 become greater and greater. It is among the small residuum of this class 

 that the agency of the Bluefish is exercised, and whatever reasonable 

 reduction may be made in our estimate, we cannot doubt that they exert 

 a material influence. 



" The rate of growth of the Bluefish is also an evidence of the immense 

 amount of food they must consume. The young fish which first appear 

 along the shores of Vineyard Sound, about the middle of August, are about 

 five inches in length. By the beginning of September, however, they 

 have reached six or seven inches, and on their reappearance in the second 

 year they measure about twelve or fifteen inches. After this they increase 

 in a still more rapid ratio. A fish which passes eastward from Vineyard 

 Sound in the- spring, weighing five pounds, is represented, according to 

 the general impression, by the ten to fifteen pound fish of the autumn. If 

 this be the fact, the fish of three or fom- pounds which pass along the 

 coast of North Carolina in March return to it in October weighing ten to 

 fifteen pounds. 



"As already explained, the relationsliip of these fish to the other 

 inhabitants of the sea is that of an unmitigated butcher ; and it is able to 

 contend successfully with any other species not superior to itself in size. 

 It is not known whether an entire school ever unite in an attack upon a 

 particular object of prey, as is said to be the case with the ferocious fishes 

 of the South American rivers ; should they do so, no animal, however 

 large, could withstand their onslaught. 



"They appear to eat anything that swims of suitable size — fish of all 

 kinds, but perhaps more especially the menhaden, which they seem to fol- 

 low along the coast, and which they attack with such ferocity as to drive 

 them on the shore, where they are sometimes piled up in windrows to the 

 depth of a foot or more. 



