PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1932 93 



highly prized by sportsmen and contributes largely to the recreational 

 value of the shore line of these States. 



Fluctuations in yield appear to be caused by variations in the 

 numbers of young fish added to the stock each year, for two cases of 

 increased abundance caused by unusually large increments of 2-year- 

 old squeteague have been noted during the course of the investigation. 

 In 1928 the stock of squeteague in southern New Jersey was augmented 

 by the appearance of large numbers of fish of the 1926 brood. In 

 1929,. 1930, and 1931 these fish returned to the same locality in con- 

 siderable numbers, accounting for a larger proportion of the catch 

 than any other year class during these years. By 1932 the numbers 

 of fish of this brood had greatly decreased, and since no other brood 

 of comparable magnitude entered the fishery meanwhile, the yield for 

 that year declined. Similarly, in 1929, a large brood of 2-3^ear-old sque- 

 teague appeared near Montauk, N.Y., with a corresponding increase 

 in the catch. This brood dominated the fishery in 1929, 1930, and 

 1931, but bj^ 1932 few returned, and the catch reverted to levels as 

 low as in 1928. 



In addition to these two conspicuously large broods, appearing 

 first as 2-year-olds, minor contingents of yearling fish have appeared 

 in southern New Jersey in all the years covered by the investigation, 

 and near Montauk, N.Y., in 1932. These fish are remarkable in 

 that while still yearlings they are always approximately as large as 

 the 2-year-old fish of the dominant year classes described above. 

 Moreover, growth increments of these fish in their first season, as 

 calculated from the scales, are greater than the corresponding 

 increments for the dominant 2-year-olds. 



Thus there appear to be two distinct types of young fish entering 

 the fishery in variable numbers from year to year. The first type 

 consists of slow-growing 2-year-olds which occasionally appear in 

 large numbers. The second consists of fast-growing yearlings w^hich 

 have not appeared in sufficiently large numbers during the course of 

 the investigation to affect the yield greatly. 



The rate of growth of the 2-year-olds as calculated from the scales 

 agrees closely with the observed rate of growth of young fish during 

 their first two seasons in Virginia and North Carolina. Moreover, 

 slow-growing yearlings are abundant in these States, in marked 

 contrast to their virtually complete absence north of Delaware Bay. 

 Thus, there is much to suggest that the most important increments 

 to the New Jersey and New York stocks of squeteague during the 

 period 1928-32 consisted of fish which had spent their first two 

 growing seasons south of Delaware Bay. 



This hypothesis is supported by the results obtained by Prof. A. E. 

 Parr, curator of the Bingham Oceanographic Foundation, who con- 

 tinued his studies of spawning and nursery areas of southern and 

 central New Jersey and at Woods Hole, Mass. As in the preceding 

 years, squeteague eggs were taken in abundance, but larvae were not 

 found in New Jersey waters. This persistent absence of squeteague 

 larvae, in marked contrast to their abundance in lower Chesapeake 

 Bay, suggests the possibility that the eggs fail to hatch in the waters 

 of New Jersey. It has been noted that the eggs are produced in the 

 two localities simultaneously but at a time when water is colder in 

 Delaware Bay than in Chesapeake Bay. It is planned to carry out 



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