Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 179 



Table IV. Comparison of Divergent Specimens of A. mitchiUi. 



Woods Hole, Massachusetts Grand Isle, Louisiana 



Eight specimens, 62-85 ^""1 TL Sixteen specimens, 48-76 mm TL. 



Depth, 19-21 «/o of SL. Depth, 23-260/0 of SL. 



Greatest thickness of body, usually exceeding depth of Greatest thickness of body, less than depth of caudal 



caudal peduncle. peduncle. 



Pectoral fin, 13-13. 5 "/o of ^L. Pectoral fin, 16. 5-17. 5 "/o of SL. 



Gill rakers, 24-28 on lower limb. Gill rakers, 21-23 on lower limb. 



Vertebrae, 43 or 44 in four specimens. Vertebrae, 39—41 in nine specimens. 



Silvery lateral band about as broad as eye. Silvery lateral band scarcely broader than pupil. 



beaches at Beaufort, N. C, at least to a depth of 1 5-20 fms., it is found more often 

 in inside waters, especially in areas with muddy bottoms and brackish water. The dis- 

 tribution is so general that the fish may be expected also in "grassy" areas and along 

 sandy beaches. 



Migrations. It was formerly thought that this species, as well as several other 

 anchovies, migrated northward and southward with the seasons. This theory was based 

 on the fact that in the northern part of the range, as at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 

 the fish is present only during the summer. However, it has been shown (j: 87—94) 

 that virtually every section of the coast within the range of mitchilli has a distinctive 

 population, which suggests that whatever migration takes place is an inshore and 

 offshore movement. 



Details of Occurrence. The most northern records are for Casco Bay, Maine, and 

 for Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; these have been based on 

 stray specimens only. But it is described as abundant in the Woods Hole region and 

 in Rhode Island waters (both adults and larvae), common in New York waters, exceed- 

 ingly abundant (often in large schools) at many New Jersey localities, and second in 

 abundance (if not the most abundant) in Chesapeake Bay. It has been recorded for 

 North Carolina, South Carolina,^ and Georgia, and it is at least tolerably plentiful in 

 the Indian River on the eastern coast of Florida. No certain evidence has been found of 

 its presence among the Florida Keys, but it has long been known to be plentiful in the 

 inlets and passes all along the western coast of Florida. It has been recorded for so many 

 localities in Mississippi, Louisiana (Cameron, Grand Isle, and Lake Ponchartrain), 

 Texas (Galveston, Corpus Christi, Dickinson Bayou), and Mexico (Vera Cruz, Rio 

 Panuco, Tampico) as to prove it practically universal in suitable situations all around 

 the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico to Yucatan. But present indications are that Yucatan 

 marks the southern boundary of its range, there being no reliable record of its presence 

 anywhere to the southward around the Central or South American shores of the Carib- 

 bean. 



Reports of it for Cuba {20: 57; ly. 421; 7: 405) on the strength of two 

 specimens from Poey in the Museum of Comparative Zoology seem to have been 

 based on a misinterpretation of what Poey wrote about this Anchov)'. Actually the 



5. The Museum of Comparative Zoology has a specimen from Charleston, collected by Louis Agassiz. 



