l80 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



class that the agency of the Blue-fish is exercised, and what- 

 ever reasonable deduction may be made in our estimate, we 

 cannot doubt that they exert a material influence. 



"The rate of growth of the Blue-fish is also an evidence of 

 the immense amount of food they must consume. The 

 young fish which appear along the shores of Vineyard Sound, 

 about the middle of August, are about five inches in length. 

 By the beginning of September, however, they have reached 

 six or seven inches, and on their reappearance in the second 

 year they measure about twelve or fifteen inches. After this 

 they increase in a still more rapid ratio. A fish which passes 

 eastward from Vineyard Sound in the spring, weighing five 

 pounds, is represented, according to the general impression, 

 by the ten to fifteen pound fish of the autumn. If this be 

 the fact, the fish of three or four pounds which pass along 

 the coast of North Carolina in March return to it in October 

 weighing ten to fifteen pounds. 



"As already explained, the relationship of these fish to the 

 other inhabitants of the sea is that of an unmitigated butcher; 

 and it is able to contend successfully with any other species 

 not superior to itself in size. It is not known whether an 

 entire school ever unite in an attack upon a particular object 

 of prey, as is said to be the case with the ferocious fishes 

 of the South American rivers; should they do so, no animal, 

 however large, could withstand their onslaught. 



"They appear to eat anything that swims of suitable size — 

 fish of all kinds, but perhaps more especially the Menhaden, 

 which they seem to follow along the coast, and which they 

 attack with such ferocity as to drive them on the shore, where 

 they are sometimes piled up in windrows to the depth of a 

 foot or more. 



"The amount of food they destroy, even if the whole of it 

 be not actually consumed, is almost incredible. Mr. Westgate 

 and others estimate it at twice the weight of the fish in a day, 

 and this is perhaps quite reasonable. Capt. Spindle goes so 



