Menhaden ; Mossbunker ; Pogy 



The spawning time and method are not well understood. 

 According to Goode, the breeding grounds are probably on the 

 off-shore banks, and the eggs are presumably cast in late winter 

 or early spring. Recently the menhaden has been found breeding 

 in brackish water in Buzzards Bay. 



The fecundity of the menhaden is very great, exceeding that 

 of the shad and the herring. More than 140,000 eggs have been 

 taken from one fish. 



The enemies of the menhaden are many, and include every 

 predaceous animal swimming in the same waters. Whales and 

 dolphins and sharks follow the schools and destroy multitudes; one 

 hundred have been taken from a shark's stomach. All the large 

 carnivorous fishes feed upon them, the tunny being the most des- 

 tructive. Dr. Goode, in 1880, estimated the total number of men- 

 haden destroyed annually on our coast by predaceous animals at a 

 million million of millions, compared with which the number des- 

 troyed by man is scarcely more than infinitesimal. 



As Dr. Goode has so happily said, the menhaden's place in 

 nature is not hard to surmise; swarming our waters in countless 

 myriads, swimming in closely packed unwieldy masses, helpless 

 as flocks of sheep, near to the surface and at the mercy of every 

 enemy, destitute of means of defence and offence, their mission is 

 unmistakably to be eaten. 



Besides entering so largely into the food-supply of many impor- 

 tant food-fishes, though of little value itself as food for man, the 

 menhaden is nevertheless a fish of very great commercial impor- 

 tance; As a bait fish in the mackerel, cod and halibut fisheries it 

 is unexcelled. In 1877 more than 80,000 barrels, or 26,000,000 

 fish, valued at $500,000, were used for this purpose. As a 

 source of oil the menhaden is of greater importance than any 

 other marine animal. After the oil is expressed the residue sup- 

 plies a valuable manure when made into manufactured fertilizers. 



Though little valued in the United States as a food-fish, never- 

 theless many barrels of salted menhaden are shipped to the West 

 Indies, and some are consumed along our own coast. They have 

 been packed in oil, after the manner of sardines, for domestic and 

 foreign consumption. A preparation resembling Liebig's " Extract 

 of Beef" has also been prepared from this fish. And as a food 

 for domestic animals in the form of "fish meal" the menhaden is 



