REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 63 



from 70° to 80° F., and seldom enter that which is colder than 65°. 



" Off Charleston, S. C, the fish are first seen about the last of 

 March, and late in April they enter the sounds of the North Carolina 

 coast. By the 20th of May the vanguard reaches the Chesapeake, 

 and others follow in rapid succession, so that by the middle of June 

 the capture of mackerel constitutes the principal occupation of the 

 fishermen. Off Handy Hook the first individuals are not seen till 

 late in July, and from that time they continually increase in numbers 

 till the middle or even the last of August. Their time of arrival at 

 Narragansett Bay is about the same as that for >Sandy Hook. In 

 this northern region they remain till the middle of September, after 

 which the number gradually diminishes, and by the first of October 

 the last individuals have disappeared. A little later they leave the 

 Chesapeake, and few are seen on the Carolina coast after the first 

 of November. Their summer movements are doubtless affected to 

 a considerable extent by the movements of the menhaden and other 

 small fishes on which they feed, as they are usually most plenty in 

 the localities where these fish are found."* 



Prior to 1880 nothing definite was known regarding the spawning 

 habits of the Spanish Mackerel. In that year an extensive investi- 

 gation of the matter was carried on by ^Ir. Earll, and at subsequent 

 times our knowledge has been further increased by the work of the 

 United States Fish Commission. It has been shown that this fish 

 spawns along many portions of the Atlantic coast in midsummer. 

 The temperature seems to have a decided effect on the spawning time, 

 since the reproductive organs apparently do not develop until it is 

 about 70° F. They spawn on the Carolina coast in April or May, in 

 the low'er Chesapeake during the first half of June, and at Sandy 

 Hook and Long Island during the last of August. The spaw^ning 

 season in any particular locality lasts from six to ten weeks; the 

 time of spawning for individuals of the same schools varies con- 

 siderably, and each fish is a number of weeks in depositing its eggs. 

 The eggs are very small, being about one-twenty-fifth inch in dia- 



*Earll, quoted from Nat. Hist, of Aquatic Animals, U. S. Fish Com., 1884, .310. 



