8 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



FISHES OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC AND GULF COASTS 



Mullet investigations. — The investigations of the mullet in the South 

 Atlantic States was continued during 1925 by Elmer Higgins, direc- 

 tor of the Key West biological station, and several assistants. John C . 

 Pearson, Russell F. Lord, and Robert O. Smith were employed in this 

 work at various times during the year and later were assigned to 

 other problems. 



The mullet fishery, yielding approximately 40, 000, 000 pounds of 

 products annually, is widely scattered, being prosecuted with varying 

 intensity from North Carolina to Texas. The fishery has seriously 

 declined in several areas, notably North Carolina, and is in need of 

 conservation. Because of the nature of the fish, local conditions are 

 of unusual importance, but on account of the lack of sufficient funds to 

 properly conduct so extended an investigation, it was necessary to cen- 

 ter activities at one shore station only and to conduct studies of a 

 fundamental nature having bearing upon the whole fishery. These 

 studies included racial localization, migrations, growth, age, and racial 

 analysis of the local stock of fish. 



The question of racial localization is of practical importance to the 

 regulation of the fishery. Previous work has shown that mullet from 

 North Carolina and Florida differed to a significant extent in meas- 

 urements of the heads, indicating the existence of distinct races and 

 an absence of the extensive migrations commonly attributed to these 

 fish. Over 7,000 additional measurements made in 1925 on the North 

 Carolina stock agreed completely with previous observations and 

 added to the evidence already collected. 



Additional data on the so-called Cape mullet strengthen the assump- 

 tion that these fish are a distinct division of the local stock because 

 of a different variation in the measurements of the head and higher 

 rate of growth. This question is complicated by migrations and other 

 factors, however, and must be investigated further during the coming 

 spring and summer before definite conclusions can be reached. 



Migrations of the mullet have been studied by observing the com- 

 position of the local population during each month of the year, by 

 collecting records of the commercial runs, and by the liberation of tag- 

 ged fish. Commercial catches and special hauls were sampled through- 

 out the year, the catch was analyzed for age and size composition, 

 and physical measurements were taken. In all, approximately 4,800 

 mullet were measured during 1925. 



The records of the commercial runs of fish were collected for 1 924 

 by personal canvass of the principal dealers of North Carolina, but 

 as this method of obtaining records was unsatisfactory, those for 1925 

 were collected by weekly questionnaires. It was considered desirable 

 to test the popular belief that the runs of mullet depend upon weather 

 conditions. The imperfect catch records of 1924, when compared 

 with temperature records, showed a high degree of negative correla- 

 tion, and it is expected that details of the effect of temperature and 

 other weather conditions upon the movements of the fish can be 

 worked out from the more accurate records of 1925. 



Although the analyses of the racial stocks of Florida and North 

 Carolina have progressed far enough to convince the investigators 

 of the falsity of the popular views on the extent of migrations, it was 



