HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 95 



dead microscopic organisms, bot;h animal and vegetable, and these may 

 even constitute more than one-half of the bulk of the mud, which, iu 

 such cases, is peculiarly soft and flocculent; such mud is extremely 

 favorable to many kinds of animals that feed on the microscopic organ- 

 isms, especially the bivalve shells, holothurians, and many annelids, 

 and the ' menhaden ' among fishes. The last variety of bottom, when it 

 has a substratum of sand or gravel a few inches below the surface, is the 

 most favorable kind for oysters, which grow very rapidly and become 

 very fat in such places." * 



The evolutions of the schools. 



124. Why do the menhaden, when in deep water, swim from morning 

 to night with their mouths at the surface? Perhaps, with their widely 

 expanded jaws and the complicated straining apparatus formed by their 

 gill-rakers they are able to gather nutritious food which is floating on 

 the water. To be convinced that this is possible, one needs only to ob- 

 serve the immense " slicks" of oily matter, often miles in extent, rem- 

 nants of the bloody feasts which bluefish and bonito have made on other 

 fish, generally the menhaden. An insight into the habit may be gained 

 by watching the menhaden at the head of New Bedford Harbor, near 

 the mouths of the large city sewers. Here a school of these fish is said 

 to be invariably found circling around near the surface with open mouths, 

 apparently in the act of feeding. 



Whatever may be the character of their food, their rapid increase in 

 size and oiliness indicates that there is an abundant supply in our waters. 



Mr. J. Carson Brevoort states that he has seen menhaden plunging 

 among the floating beds of jelly-fishes. He infers that they feed upon 

 these creatures, though he has not seen the entire act. 



The value of menhaden for hait affected hy their food. 



125. Fish taken in Salem Harbor are not considered good bait. Some- 

 thing iu the food which is there obtained renders them very liable to 

 decay, and however carefully they may be packed in ice the viscera soon 

 rot away. A similar phenomenon is well known to the herring fisher- 

 men of the coast of Norway, where a certain kind of food, presumably 

 larval forms of small mollusks, often eaten by the herring, causes the 

 fish to decay, in spite of the utmost precaution in salting. It is the 

 custom of these fishermen to keep these fish alive in the nets for sev- 

 eral days, to allow them to " work ofl" this undesirable food. Perhaps 

 a similar precaution might be useful to the Salem Harbor fishing gangs. 



(J.— REPRODUCTION. 

 20.— Studies of the parent fish. • 



Dissections of Connecticut fish. 

 12G. Of the breeding habits of the menhaden, like those of the blue- 

 fish, nothing definite is known. Hundreds of specimens have been ex- 

 American Naturalist, 1871. 



