peninsula. Species of sciaenids and 

 clupeids, which are cognate on the east 

 and west sides of Florida, were listed 

 to support Hildebrand's theory that the 

 paired species of menhaden differ- 

 entiated after the peninsula last rose 

 above the sea. 



ATLANTIC MENHADEN 



Spawning 



Peck (1894) said minute organisms 

 furnish food for menhaden "not only 

 within the limits of these brackish- 

 water inlets and estuaries where the 

 spawn is left to develop" but also in 

 more open waters, apparently having 

 come to this conclusion concerning 

 spawning because small fish were 

 abundant in estuarine situations around 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in the 

 sunnmer of 1893. Peck also pointed 

 out that low salinity areas were im- 

 portant "because they were intrusted 

 with so much embryonic and larval life 

 of the migratory inhabitants of the 

 coast." Smith (1907) said that in New 

 England the spawning of menhaden took 

 place in late spring and early summer, 

 and from Chesapeake Bay southward 

 spawning occurred in late fall and early 

 winter. Fishermen reported large fish 

 with full roe in Novennber and Decem- 

 ber in North Carolina "rivers", but 

 disagreed as to whether the spawning 

 act took place only in the ocean (Smith, 

 1907). Schools of young were found in- 

 shore in winter. However, Smith was 

 not sure of the spawning location and 

 said "there is some evidence" that 

 spawning took place both in the sea 

 and inside waters. 



Kuntz and Radcliffe (1918) found 

 some fish ready to spawn and some 

 spent in Woods Hole harbor in August. 

 Eggs and larvae were occasionally 

 taken there during the summer and 

 were abundant off Gay Head in August. 

 Larvae 20 mm. long were taken in the 

 harbor on October 21, 1914. These 

 authors indicated that the main spawn- 

 ing period in the Woods Hole area was 

 June, July, August, "and later". 



Bigelow and Welsh (1925) found 

 spent and ripe fish in the Gulf of Maine 



in July and August. They said spawning 

 around Woods Hole took place from 

 June to October. The Grampus (Bigelow 

 and Welsh, 1925) took eggs and larvae 

 in Nantucket Sound and west of Martha's 

 Vineyard in October 1915. Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953) reported no eggs and 

 larvae north of Cape Cod but said fry 

 were taken in abundance in Casco Bay 

 in 1900. 



Warfel and Merriman (1944) found 

 menhaden larvae (less than 23 mm., 

 standard length) in the harbor of New 

 Haven, Connecticut, in July and Sep- 

 tember. The standard length of men- 

 haden collected in October was 30mnn. 

 and a few 38-55 mm. in standard length 

 remained until November. 



Perlmutter (1939) reported eggs 

 and larvae at 27 of 52 stations in Long 

 Island Sound. He said the spawning 

 season extended from May to October. 

 Westman and Nigrelli (1955) said men- 

 haden in the zero year class appeared 

 in estuaries, tidal rivers, creeks, 

 mooring basins and canals in June 1953 

 and remained until late September or 

 October. Eggs and larvae were not 

 found in Great South Bay by Perlmutter 

 (1939) although zeros (young-of-the- 

 year) more than an inch in length 

 were usually abundant there inshore. 

 According to Westman and Nigrelli 

 (1955) "The abundance of these young 

 menhaden is difficult to imagine and, 

 unlike the adult population they exhibit 

 no aversion to fresh water." Due to 

 the long spawning season sonne of the 

 young- of-the -year were 7 inches long 

 in October and others were only 2 

 inches long. Evidently Westman and 

 Nigrelli did not collect larval stages. 



Radcliffe (Kuntz and Radcliffe, 

 191 8) took larvae 30 mm. long at the 

 nnouth of the Potomac in February 1914. 

 According to Hildebrand and Schroeder 

 (1928), menhaden in the Chesapeake 

 Bay region seemed to spawn in the fall. 

 Larvae averaged 27.7 mm. long in 

 January, 33.5 mm. in February, 27.3 

 mnn. in March, 33.0 mm. in April, and 

 46.0 mm. in May. Pearson (1950) took 

 menhaden larvae at Old Point Comfort, 

 Virginia, during April and May. 



