3 54 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



mature fish in that vicinity seldom enter the harbor or other inshore waters. Northward, 

 however, as at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the eggs and larvae were collected in the 

 harbor (76: 1 19). The place and season of spawning, then, seem to vary according to 

 locality. 



Habits. Both young and adults, acccording to Bigelow and Schroeder, feed and 

 travel in compact schools at the surface, swimming close together side by side and 

 tier above tier (75 : 114): 



In calm weather they often come to the surface when their identity can be recognized by the ripple they 

 make, for pogies, like herring, make a much more compact disturbance than mackerel do. . . Also, pogies as 

 they feed frequently lift their snouts out of water, which we have never seen herring do, while they break the 

 water with their dorsal fins, also with their tails, .^nd the brassy hue of their sides catches the eye. 



The larvae appear to be more or less solitary, for only one specimen or at most a 

 few were generally taken in a haul, off Beaufort. They do not stay at or near the surface 

 as strictly as older ones do, for most of the larvae at hand were taken in nets towed 

 along the bottom. However, schooling and surface swimming begin early in life, for 

 many schools of young 25—35 mm long (some just reaching the adult stage) were 

 observed many times on windy days near shore on the leeward side of Pivers Island 

 at Beaufort. 



Migrations. These fish are present principally in the Gulf of Maine from July to 

 September, off Woods Hole, Massachusetts, from June to September, and off the coasts 

 of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware from May to September, being most numer- 

 ous during midsummer; in Chesapeake Bay small to medium-sized fish are numerous 

 throughout the summer, and large ones are taken off the mouth of the Bay (or off the 

 Capes) during October and November; in North Carolina, small and medium-sized 

 fish are present all summer, the large ones from October to December; and on the 

 east coast of Florida the fish are numerous from early spring to late fall. 



Small to medium-sized specimens are present in Chesapeake Bay throughout the 

 year but in greatly reduced numbers during the winter. Adults off Beaufort, though 

 most numerous during late fall, sometimes remain in the nearby offshore waters until 

 January if the winter Is mild. Schools composed of fish that are generally 1 50 mm 

 (6 in.) and less are present in Beaufort Harbor and connecting estuaries all winter, 

 and schools of young, generally under 50 mm in length, ascend freshwater creeks or 

 enter small drainage ditches in the spring. Unlike adults In northern waters that come 

 close inshore, Into the bays and harbors (j6: 122), large fish In North Carolina very 

 rarely cross Beaufort Inlet to enter the Harbor and adjacent waters. 



It is still much of a mystery where the schools of adults go after the fish leave 

 the waters within 10—15 rnil^s of shore, the usual operating range of the fishing 

 schooners. Sufficient taxonomic work has been done, however, to indicate that each 

 section of the coast, that is the New England, Middle Atlantic, and South Atlantic 

 states, has a more or less distinct population. Therefore, if a north-south migration 

 does take place, then the fish from each section return to the general vicinity from 

 which they migrated originally. It seems more probable now that the principal migra- 



