404 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Live fish have been described as very dark blue above and silvery on the side and 

 below ((§7 : 7). 



Size. The largest specimen at hand, vk'ith damaged caudal fin, is about 163 mm 

 (6.5 in.) TL and 130 mm SL. However, a length of eight inches has been reported, 

 though the usual length, judging from the examples at hand, probably is about four 

 or five inches. 



Development and Growth. The smallest specimens at hand are 26 mm SL (32 mm 

 TL), taken at Tortugas, Florida, and 31— 44 mm SL, from Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 taken on June 30, 19 13. These young, as is usual among Clupeidae, are notably more 

 slender than their adults; the depth in the smallest ones (26—31 mm SL) is con- 

 tained 5.1-6.2 times in SL; at about 60 mm SL the fish have attained near adult 

 proportions. 



As already noted (p. 402), the gill rakers increase with age and growth: about 

 50-60 on the lower limb of specimens 37-44 mm, 70-75 at 70-80 mm, and 85-100 

 at 105-125 mm SL. The smallest reported for Tortugas, up to 32 mm length, had 

 only "22 or 23 gill rakers" {8y: 8), and the smallest now at hand, 26 mm SL, has 

 about 36 gill rakers on the lower limb. These data, then, indicate that the greatest 

 proportional increase in the number of rakers takes place in the young under about 

 70 mm SL. 



Spawning. Although Longley did not give the collection dates for the young 

 26-mm fish referred to above and for young "up to 32 mm in length" reported for 

 Tortugas {8y : 8), it is known that he worked at Tortugas only from about the last half 

 of June to the early part of September. As such small young probably had not strayed 

 far from the place where they were hatched, it may be assumed that at least some spawn- 

 ing takes place there during the summer. 



Habits. These fish, like most of the herrings, run more or less in schools. In 

 the fall of the year at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the fish occur irregularly and in 

 varying degrees of abundance {l20: 91). Since these warm-water fish are not per- 

 manent residents there and since only adults seem to have been taken, it is surmised 

 that they may migrate northward in the Gulf Stream. The fish in the vicinity of Tortugas, 

 at least, seem to be most common some distance offshore where the water is 10-20 

 fms. deep, although they do come inshore {8j : 7). Similar habits have been reported 

 for the Bermuda sardine (ll: 25)- 



Food. Numerous copepods were found in the alimentary canal of specimens taken 

 at Woods Hole (83: 438). The numerous close-set gill rakers provide an effective 

 straining apparatus for extracting minute organisms from the water. Therefore, an 

 almost exclusively planktonic diet is assumed. 



Enemies. Examples of this species were reported among the refuse on the tern 

 rookery. Bird Key, Tortugas, Florida (Sy. 8). Other water birds and many predatory 

 fish no doubt also feed on this sardine. 



Parasites. The trematode, Distomum appendiculatum, was reported for the intestinal 

 tract of specimens from Woods Hole, Massachusetts {85: 438), and the parasitic 



