106 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tive in certaiu localities. " I have often," writes Mr. George E. Allen, 

 of Brookliu, Me., " observed these pests, with the most imaginable 

 indignation, in their destruction of these fish, and watched their antics 

 from the masthead of my vessel, rushing and thrashing like demons 

 among a school of fish, darting with almost lightning swiftness through 

 them, scattering them in every direction, and throwing hundreds into 

 the air with their tails." This is doubtless the barracoutar spoken of 

 by Maine fishermen. 



Boardman and Atkins accuse the pollock {PollacMus carbonarius) and 

 the whiting or silver hake {Merlucius bilinearis) of much damage done. 

 In reference to the latter they write: "It is known to pursue both herring 

 and menhaden. The former it devours in great numbers, and at Grand 

 Mauan a great many of the smaller ones are sometimes caught in the 

 herring-nets. In Bluehill Bay, in Kennebec Eiver, and doubtless in other 

 places, it is caught in the weirs, and the Brooklin fishermen often take 

 it in their seines with menhaden. Its teeth are rather long and remark- 

 ably sharp, and they are charged with wounding a good many menhaden 

 which are afterward caught with their sides and backs lacerated as if in 

 that way." * 



The striped bass {Boccus Uneatus) is destructive, and so is the sque- 

 teagueor weakfish {Cynoscion regalis) and its southern representative, the 

 spotted squeteague or so-called "sea trout" {Cynoscion caroUnensis.i) 

 I have found a menhaden a foot in length in the stomach of a sque- 

 teague. 



In the southern rivers the gar-fish {Lepidosteus osseus), the ^^tront" 

 {Micropterus nigricans), and the cat-fishes (Siluridw) with the tarpum, 

 {Megalops thrissoides), are said to be its worst enemies. I have found 

 menhaden to be the only thing in the stomachs of specimens of the latter 

 species, taken on the northern coast in summer, and it is probable that 

 these were attracted from their usual haunts in pursuit of their favorite 

 food. The sword-fish {Xiphias gladius) destroys many, rushing through 

 the masses of fish, striking right and left with its powerful weapons. 

 From examination of their stomachs it would appear that the bayonet- 

 fish ( Tetrapturus alhidus) also feeds extensively upon them. The codfish 

 is said to eat many of them, and this seems quite probable, for these 

 fish bite freely at a menhaden bait. 



The hluefish and the bonito. 



145. The bluefish {Pomatomus saltatrix) with the bonito {Felamys 

 sarda) are, however, their most destructive enemies, not even excepting 

 man. Mr. Simpson, examining a great many of the bluefish caught on 

 the North Carolina coast in the summer of 1874, found from one to three 

 " fatbacks" in the stomach of each. These corsairs of the sea, not con 

 tent with what they eat, which is of itself an enormous quantity, rush 



* Op. cit., p. 14. 



+ A southern correspondent speaks of finding eight menhaden in the stomach of one 

 fiea tront. 



