Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 321 



margin of pupil, 2.0—2.4 in head. Gill rakers apparently not increasing in number 

 with age. Teeth in the upper jaw absent in large examples 230 mm SL and upward, 

 but present in smaller ones; present in lower jaw, becoming exceedingly small in large 

 examples; those on tongue minute, in a small elongated patch. 



Dorsal with slightly concave margin, its origin rather less than an eye's diameter 

 in advance of pelvic, usually nearer to margin of upper jaw than to vertical from last 

 anal ray; a sheath of scales on its base, consisting for the most part of more than one 

 row of scales and extending nearly or quite to base of last ray. Caudal deeply forked, 

 the lower lobe somewhat longer than the upper, fully as long as head. Anal low, its 

 margin nearly straight, its origin about equidistant between base of pelvic and base 

 of caudal; a sheath of scales on its base. Pelvic fin inserted near ventral edge and 

 about equidistant between base of pectoral and origin of anal, 2.0-2.6 in head. Pec- 

 toral placed somewhat higher on side, 1.3— 1.7 in head. 



Color. Fresh specimen from Chesapeake Bay grayish green above, shading some- 

 what gradually into the iridescent silver of sides. Nape green, side of head brassy. 

 Tip of lower jaw dusky. Dorsal and caudal dusky. Anal and pelvic plain, translucent. 

 Pectoral slightly dusky. Narrow dark lines along rows of scales on upper part of side; 

 missing on specimens less than 1 50 mm SL or so and most distinct in large examples 

 that have lost their scales, the dark pigment being in the skin underneath the scales. 

 A dark spot on shoulder; several obscure dark spots behind it, but missing in some 

 examples. Peritoneum pale, but with scattered dusky punctulations. 



Size. Hickory Shad definitely run larger in size than blueback and grayback 

 herrings but smaller than the shad. A maximum length of 600 mm (24 in.) has been 

 reported, but the usual size is much smaller. The commercial catches observed by me 

 at Chesapeake Bay and at Beaufort, North Carolina, consisted mostly of fish varying 

 between about 300—375 mm (12 — 15 ^'^O '" length. 



Re-production, Development, and Migrations. Next to nothing is known about the 

 breeding habits of Hickory Shad. Although it has been stated that they spawn in 

 North Carolina in the spring, in the headwaters of streams (jxp: 121), spawners have 

 never been seen in either fresh or salt water. In fact, many subsequent authors (.^5: 

 607; 16: 106; 20: 65) have accepted without reservation the opinion that Hickory 

 Shad, like other local members of that genus, are anadromous. However, the only 

 supporting evidence is that there are definite spring and autumn runs; in Chesapeake 

 Bay, only stragglers are seen in the summer; in the spring they are first taken in 

 the lower part of the Bay in March and progressively later farther up the Bay in late 

 March and early April. Also, I have observed adults with well-developed roe in the 

 Potomac above Washington during the spring, but these were not ripe and may have 

 returned to salt water to spawn. The view that this fish does not enter salt water to 

 spawn {8: 197; Jj: 95) is supported by Hildebrand and Schroeder {^g: 84); among 

 thousands of young clupeids collected during many years in Chesapeake Bay and its 

 tributaries, in freshwater streams and estuaries, and in salt water out to 1 5 fms., they 

 failed to find any Hickory Shad less than 15 mm (6.12 in.) long. Also, in the vicinity 



