1963. . . Prespawning behavior took place 

 within small aggregations of 3 to 15 

 cunners which became more active than 

 usual, milling and darting about. Chasing 

 next ensued, one fish, pursued by several 

 others, moving in small circular paths in 

 and out of rock crevices and over rises on 

 the bottom. The spawning act took from 

 two to three seconds. In each instance, a 

 group of fish made a quick turn upward to 

 converge at a point one to two meters 

 above the bottom, where the fish either 

 contacted or merely touched each other. 

 Then they immediately swam down and 

 glided in a curving path toward the 

 bottom away from a white cloud, 

 presumably milt and eggs which they had 

 discharged at the apex of the upward 

 spawning movement. . ." 



Wilbur, C. G. 



1956. The physiology of the heart of marine 

 fish. Biol. Bull. (Woods Hole), 111(2): 316. 

 (abstract). 



At a given temperature larger fish have 

 slower heart beats than smaller fish. "A 

 few average values in beats per minute for 

 fish arranged in order of decreasing size: 

 Roccus, 20; Oppsanus, 40; Prionotus, 50; 

 Tautogolabrus, 60; Fundulus, 100." 



Williams, G. C. 



1906. Dispersal of young marine fishes near 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Publ. Mus. Mich. 

 State Univ., Biol. Ser., 1(10): 331-367. 



The cunner is listed (p. 343) as a species 

 often taken by anglers near Waquoit Bay. 



Williams, G. C. 



1967. Identification and seasonal size changes 

 of eggs of the labrid fishes, Tautogolabrus 

 adspersus and Tautoga onitis,o{ Long Island 

 Sound. Copeia, 1967(2): 452-453. 



Observation indicated that the eggs of 



cunner and tautog could be correctly 

 identified from each other by the use of 

 monthly egg-diameter frequency 

 distributions. 



WUliams, G. C. 



1968. Bathymetric distribution of planktonic 

 fish eggs in Long Island Sound. Limnol. 

 Oceanogr., 13(2): 382-385. 



The distribution of cunner eggs was 

 strongly vertically stratified with most of 

 the eggs obtained from the upper five 

 meters of water. 



Williamson, W. D. 



1832. Chapter on Fishes, p. 150-164. In W. 

 D. Williamson [ed.]. The history of the state 

 of Maine, from its first discovery, A.D. 1602, 

 to the Separation, A.D. 1820, vol. 1. Glazier, 

 Masters Co., Hallowell, Maine. 

 "'Cunner' is a brown coloured, scaled salt 

 water fish, as large as a white perch, and is a 

 good pan-fish. It has a horny or thorned 

 back, and is found in Casco bay and 

 westward; and weighs from 1 to 6 pounds." 



Yudkin, W. H. 



1945. Occurrence of thiaminase in marine 

 teleosts. Proc. Soc. Exp. Med., 60: 268-269. 

 Assays for the presence of thiaminase were 

 conducted on the cunner and three other 

 marine species. No thiaminase was present 

 in any of the fish tested. 



Zube, E. H. and C. A. Carlozzi, eds. 



1967. An inventory and interpretation. 



Selected resources of the Island of 



Nantucket. Coop. Exten. Serv., Univ. Mass., 



Publ. No. 4. 135 pp. 



The tautog (Tautoga onitis) and cunner 

 (Tautogolabrus adspersus) were commonly 

 caught while sampling in Nantucket and 

 Madaket Harbors. Their diet consist of 

 shrimp, amphipods, mussels, crabs, etc. (p. 

 55-58). 



36 



