Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 561 



with rear margin straight or nearly so, their origin opposite dorsal origin, with 8 rays, 

 the first (outer) unbranched (2 reported), the longest ray 3.3—4.0 times length of base. 

 Pectorals with rear margin straight or slightly convex, the angles rounded, their 

 origin under rear margin of opercle, with 1 1 or 12 rays (13 reported), the first (upper) 

 ray unbranched, the longest ray 3.7—4.5 times the base. 



Vertebrae 62—64 ('^s" specimens counted, but not the above described specimens). 



Color. ^ Back and upper part of sides translucent, yellowish olive or bottle green, 

 sometimes with a brassy sheen ; skin of upper parts, including fins, usually more or less 

 speckled with minute purplish black dots that show through the scales. Sides with a 

 broad bright silvery belt enclosing the lateral line, and outlined above by a narrow, 

 vaguely outlined dusky purplish band; lower part of sides less brilliantly silvery. Belly 

 and lower side of head as a whole, white. All the fins transparent, or nearly so; dorsal 

 with a paler shade of same color as back; the caudal similar but more or less dark-edged; 

 anal and pelvics whitish; pectorals colorless or nearly so, except for a greenish margin 

 anteriorly. The lining of body cavity silvery. 



Sixe and Weight. American Smelts from salt water average about 7-9 inches long 

 when full-grown, and about 12—13 inches is the usual maximum. As caught, they 

 ordinarily run between i and 4 ounces, depending on size and fatness, and very large 

 ones may weigh as much as 6 ounces. In Great Bay, New Hampshire, the largest of 

 many measured was about 9 inches long. In the Bay of Chaleur, Quebec, 9- to 9.5-inch 

 fish averaged a little more than 0.2 of a pound, while a 10.5-inch fish (270 mm) 

 weighed a little more than 0.25 of a pound (122.5 §)• 



In some lakes where they are landlocked they commonly run up to 10-15 

 inches and (by report) up to as much as two-thirds to one pound or so in weight, 

 as in Sebago Lake and North Belgrade Lake in southern Maine and in some of the 

 Nova Scotian lakes, Canada. Other lakes, however, harbor stunted races, e. g. Grand 

 Lake in the St. Croix watershed of eastern Maine {^6: 2']l), Lac des Isles in western 

 Quebec, and Lake St. John, tributary to the Saguenay. 



Odor. Accounts have repeatedly credited the smelts with a "cucumber" odor, 

 especially smelts of Europe, which have often been described as strong-smelling. But 

 in the American populations this odor is so faint that we have not noticed it, though 

 we have caught and handled many. 



Develop)7ient and Growth. Females weighing no more that two ounces may produce 

 as many as 40,000-50,000 eggs {85: 188); one 232 mm (9.12 in.) long, taken in 

 Crystal Lake, Michigan, contained 43,125 eggs {^g: 142). The eggs, which range in 

 diameter from 0.6 mm to about 1.2 mm in different waters and according to different 

 authorities, sink to the bottom where they stick to each other in clusters or cling to 

 any object on which they settle. In European waters, the eggs hatch in 8-27 days, 

 depending on the temperature of the water. In Massachusetts they have been reported 

 as hatching in 1 3 days. 



The larvae are about 5-6 mm long when they hatch and are perfectly transparent 



9. From market specimens in excellent condition that we have examined recently. 



36 



