establish the fact that there is an 

 abundance peak for this fish in the bay 

 during the winter, which is characteris- 

 tic of the life history of the species. . . 

 The increased numbers caught in mid- 

 winter. . . are possibly a result of mi- 

 gration of such individuals from nurs- 

 ery grounds near the shore to the open 

 bay. They grow rapidly and probably 

 by midsummer nnost of them pass to the 

 outside as the curve indicates. Fish 

 taken on the outside were usually adult 

 or nearly adult in size. Smaller indi- 

 viduals were sometimes caught near 

 the shore." 



Baldauf (1954) presented monthly 

 standard length frequency curves for 

 Brevoortia sp. for November 1952 

 through April 1953. The November 

 mode was about 19 mm. and could be 

 followed to a mode of Z5-26 mm. in 

 March. 



Suttkus (1956) gave numerous pro- 

 portional measurements of young 

 B. patronus. These show that the body 

 shape changes greatly between 20 and 

 30 mm. standard length. The meristic 

 counts fell in the lower ranges of 

 Hildebrand's (1948) figures. Suttkus 

 said serrations on the ventral part of 

 the maxillary, which disappear with 

 age, were not mentioned by Kuntz and 

 Radcliffe (1918) or Hildebrand (1948). 

 However, Hildebrand called them 

 "teeth", said they were present in all 

 species oi BrevoOTtia, and disappeared 

 at about 70 mm. length. 



Renfro ( 1 958)' took five B. />a/roWJ« 

 in the Aransas River, Texas, in March 

 and July 1957. One, in March, was 120 

 nnm. long and was in a salinity of 

 54.3%o. Another, 32 mm., was taken at 

 a salinity of 47.6. Three others, 52-64 

 mm. long, were taken in July at 0.5%o 

 salinity. 



Gunter (1945) in a discussion of 



Brevoortia sp. (B. gunteri Hildebrand, 

 1948) taken in Aransas and Copano 

 Bays, Texas, said: 



'Renfro, W. C. 1958. The effect of salinity on the 

 distribution of fishes in the Aransas River. Master's 

 Thesis. Graduate School, The University of Texas. 51 p., 

 3 tables , 25 figs. 



"Combined total length-frequency 

 curves for both bays were made. In 

 April, 1941 the only group of men- 

 haden caught were from 88to 133 mm. 

 long with a mode at 1 1 3 and 118 mm . 

 This group persisted until October 

 when it was from 128 to 173 mm. 

 long. In August a second group from 

 88 to 103 mm. long appeared, which 

 became predominant in November 

 and December. Remnants of the two 

 groups persisted through the winter 

 until May when they became more 

 numerous again. At that time, the 

 smaller group had a mode at 128 to 

 133 mm. Post-larvae came into the 

 catch in January and they were pre- 

 dominant from then until May, when 

 their size ranged from 23 to 43 mm. 

 in length." 



Springer and Woodburn (I960) 

 compared data from collections in the 

 Tampa Bay, Florida, area with Suttkus' 

 (1956) Lake Pontchartrain data and 

 stated that B, patronus reached Tampa 

 Bay inland waters. . ."at a smaller 

 size (earlier age?) than it does on the 

 Louisiana coast." It should be noted 

 that Springer and Woodburn's collec- 

 tions were made close to high salinity 

 Gulf waters while the inland waters of 

 Lake Pontchartrain are many miles 

 from the open Gulf and high salinity 

 waters where spawning takes place. 

 The data from both areas indicated 

 ". . .a sudden spurt of growth after 

 May (after June?)" by the difference 

 between the average size of July sam- 

 ples. The growth rate of Florida fish 

 seemed to be slower than fish from 

 Louisiana. 



Distribution and Migrations 



According to Goode and Bean ( 1 879) 

 the first menhaden from the Gulf re- 

 ceived by the U. S. National Museum 

 were collected in West Florida in 1 864. 

 Goode (1879) under the heading of 

 "Limits in 1877" quoted two light- 

 house keepers, along the Mississippi 

 and Texas coasts, one of whom was a 

 former Maine pogy fisherman, who 

 said that no menhaden "is found in 

 those waters." However, he quoted a 



18 



