The larvae moved towards shore, 

 where they reached sheltered and often 

 low-salinity areas at a size of around 

 Z5 mm. standard length. Probably they 

 were mostly at the surface during these 

 movements. There were Sonne indica- 

 tions that the larvae moved inshore 

 shortly after coming into the estuaries 

 and moved back out again as juveniles 

 (Massman, Ladd and McCutcheon, 

 1954). Apparently this movement con- 

 tinued on out into open waters, for in 

 December Z-inch fish, the zeros of 

 Westman and Nigrelli (1955) showed 

 up regularly in North Carolina mixed 

 in with 10-inch fish (Ellison, 1951). 

 Presumably the 2-inch fish came from 

 the north, possibly Chesapeake Bay, 

 because the North Carolina zeros 

 should not be that size in December 

 (Hildebrand, 1920). 



McHugh, Oglesby and Pacheco 

 (I959) found that menhaden less than 2 

 years old were present in Virginia 

 waters throughout the year. Spawning 

 probably took place in the ocean, and 

 the young moved into Chesapeake Bay 

 and its estuaries soon after hatching. 

 As they grew, young menhaden moved 

 back down the estuaries toward the 

 sea. In most seasons mean sizes of 

 fish were progressively greater in a 

 seaward direction. Since the purse - 

 seine fishery exploited fish primarily 

 in their second and third year of life 

 and the pound-net fishery took prin- 

 cipally fish in their first and second 

 year, sampling of the pound-net fishery 

 offered a method of forecasting purse - 

 seine catches at least a year in advance. 

 Seasonal waves of emigration and im- 

 migration to Chesapeake Bay were 

 associated with intense fall and spring 

 spawning periods. Females were 

 slightly larger than males of the same 

 age, but the difference was insignifi- 

 cant in young menhaden. 



There is some information con- 

 cerning the movements of B. tyrannus 

 up and down the Atlantic coast from 

 observations made by biologists and 

 fishermen. Apparently no menhaden 

 remain in offshore waters north of 

 Chesapeake Bay during the colder 

 months of the year. Hildebrand and 

 Schroeder (1928) found that nnenhaden 



remained in the deeper parts of Chesa- 

 peake Bay during the winter in reduced 

 numbers, where they were taken in 

 beam trawls; in March the fish came 

 into shallow waters and were then taken 

 in pound nets and haul seines. The 

 large schools migrating up and down 

 the coast did not enter the Bay and the 

 local fishery was not affected by spring, 

 summer and fall "runs" as was the 

 case with the outer shore areas of the 

 Atlantic States. 



According to Bigelow and Schroe- 

 der (1953) nnenhaden left the Maine 

 coast by the middle of October and 

 Massachusetts Bay by early Novennber, 

 although small ones had been taken 

 there as late as December. Reports 

 from fishermen indicated that the fish 

 went around Cape Cod to the New York 

 region and on southward. Ellison (1951) 

 wrote that the migrating schools were 

 fished from Delaware south to North 

 Carolina as follows: 



"About October 15 a run of fish 

 appears in North Carolina from the 

 north and is joined by fish from the 

 southern sounds and estuaries. These 

 fish run from 10 to 12 inches in 

 length and are known locally as 

 'Chesapeake Bay' fish, 'holy jump- 

 ers' or 'forerunners.' They contrib- 

 ute to the fishery about a month and 

 are followed about November 10 by 

 the so-called 'Delaware' fish, which 

 measure 13 to 16 inches. These fish, 

 in turn, are succeeded about Thanks- 

 giving by 16-to-20 inch fish recog- 

 nized as the 'Boston Bay' or the 

 'Amagansett' fish. All of the fish 

 appearing from October 15 to No- 

 vember are following a north-south 

 migration route." 



In December schools of small fish 

 2 to 10 inches long appeared in North 

 Carolina. Their source was unknown, 

 but they probably came from inshore 

 waters. 



Concerning the spring migration 

 northward Ellison said: 



"The spring fishery usually starts 

 in May, although sometimes in April. 

 This fishery depends principally upon 



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