MAEINE FISHERIES OF TEXAS 189 



a resident fish. Trolling in the Gulf near Aransas Pass is sometimes 

 very successful, and hundreds of pounds of mackerel often are caught 

 by a single fisherman in one day. 



Black Drum (Pogonias cromis) 



The black drum is now more popular in the Texas market, but 

 prior to 1889 there is no record of its being handled. The adult drum 

 are large, coarse fish, which are sometimes hosts to parasitic worms. 

 Small or "baby" drum averaging 4 or 5 pounds in weight are now in 

 demand. These young drum are. excellent eating and quite the equal 

 or even the superior of the redfish. On the whole, however, the drum 

 has not been esteemed either by the trade or the fishermen. It is 

 most abundant in Texas waters, and according to Mr. Cobolini it can 

 be caught at Point Isabel any day in the year. 



The oyster-eating habits of the big drum have been widely adver- 

 tised, as these fish often are very destructive to beds of planted oysters. 

 It is reported that bunch oysters, with their sharp cutting edges, are 

 relatively well protected from the depredations of the drum, but 

 planted oysters, especially young, thin-shelled ones that have been 

 well culled, are easily taken up and crushed by the strong pharyngeals. 



The spawning habits of this species have not been studied carefully. 

 An extract from the notes of Mr. Simmonds on this subject reads as 

 follows : 



Practically nothing is known about the breeding habits of the fish. Young 

 fish, ranging from those scarcely over a month and a half old to those nearly 

 grown, were found in shallows of Laguna Madre near Point Isabel, in Oso 

 Creek back from Corpus Christi Bay, and in scattered localities along intercoastal 

 waters as far east as Galveston Bay, particularly at Mitchell's Cut and about the 

 head of Matagorda Bay. 



An observer at Corpus Christi has named Oso Bay as one positive 

 spawning ground for black drum. The most interesting feature of the 

 black-drum fishery in Texas is the way in which it has increased, 

 rising from almost nothing in 1889 to second place in 1923. 



Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus) 



The sheepshead formerly was one of the ' three most abundant 

 species caught for market. This species long has been one of the 

 most prized of table fish, as its flesh has a particularly pleasing quality 

 and flavor. Recently, however, it has seemed to be very scarce on the 

 Texas coast. One fish dealer, writing from Matagorda in February, 

 1924, says "They disappeared, went west, in droves of millions and 

 have never been plentiful since. They were not caught out; no 

 market for them * * *; they left here * * *; why or where 

 they went no one seems to know." This observer states that several 

 years ago sheepshead were so thick in the neighborhood of Matagorda 

 that they could not be given away, much less sold. 



Extracts from Mr. Simmonds's notes on the spawning habits of thjs 

 species are as follows: 



The sheepshead spawns usually during March and early April, at which time 

 the females in schools swim in about sundown to a depth of 6 or 8 feet on sandy 

 Gulf beaches along the coast, where males feed during the day. The small trans- 

 parent eggs, measuring about one thirty-second inch, have a specific gravity less 

 than that of sea water, on which they have a tendency to float. In the warmer 

 waters of the Gulf of Mexico, at about 76° F., they hatch in 40 hours. 



