178 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



away or sink. It is even maintained, with great earnestness, 

 that such is the gluttony of the fish, that when the stomach 

 becomes full, the contents are disgorged and then again filled. 

 It is certain that it kills many more fish than it requires for its 

 own support. 



"The youngest fish, equally with the older, perform this 

 function of destruction, and although they occasionally 

 devour crabs, worms, etc., the bulk of their sustenance 

 throughout the greater part of the year is derived from other 

 fish. Nothing is more common than to find a small Blue-fish 

 of six or eight inches in length under a school of minnows 

 making continual dashes and captures among them. The 

 stomachs of the Blue-fish of all sizes, with rare exceptions, 

 are found loaded with the other fish, sometimes to the num- 

 ber of thirty or forty, either entire or in fragments. 



"As already referred to, it must also be borne in mind that 

 it is not merely the small fry that are thus devoured, and 

 which it is expected will fall a prey to other animals, but 

 that the food of the Blue-fish consists very largely of individ- 

 uals which have already passed a large percentage of the 

 chances against their attaining maturity, many of them in- 

 deed having arrived at the period of spawning. To make 

 the case more clear, let us realize for a moment the number 

 of Blue-fish that exist on our coast in the summer season. 

 As far as I can ascertain by the statistics obtained at the fish- 

 ing stations on the New England coast as also from the records 

 of the New York markets, kindly furnished by Middleton and 

 Carman of the Fulton Market, the capture of Blue-fish, from 

 New Jersey to Monomoy, during the season, amounts to not 

 less than one million individuals, averaging five or six pounds 

 each. Those, however, who have seen the Blue-fish in his 

 native waters, and realized the immense number there exist- 

 ing, will be quite willing to admit that probably not one fish 

 in a thousand is ever taken by man. 



"If, therefore, we have an actual capture of one million, we 



