221 



^^^vv-^\ 



In the north, in th'e wonTs of an old ichthyologist, Dr. Mitchill, " he confines himself 

 strictly to the salt water, never having l)een seen in the fresh rivers" about New York, 

 and even about Charleston, Dr. Holbrook records, " it enters shallow inlets and 

 mouths of rivers, but never leaves the salt for fresh water." But in Florida it fre- 

 quently ascends the rivers and is found in purely fresh water. 



Its winter quarters in the north are unknown. Professor Goode thinks that " it 

 is not yet possible to infer with any certainty what the temperature limits of this 

 species may be, but it would seem probable that they never willingly encounter water 

 colder than 60°, except, perhaps, in fall, when they are reluctant to leave their 

 feeding-grounds. The statement just made, however, requires a certain qualification. 

 No one knows whether the sheepshead of our northern waters goes south in winter, 

 or whether they sim])ly become torpid, and remain through the winter in deep holes 

 near their summer haunts, their presence unsuspected. Perhaps it would be wiser to 

 say that they are not commonly engaged in feeding when the temjjerature is lower 

 than 60°, and that their winter habits are entirely unknown. When the water is, 

 throughout tlie year, warmer than 60°, they are constantly active." 



The sheepshcad's peculiar teeth are suggestive of its diet ; it " feeds almost exclu- 

 sively upon hard-shelled animals, molluscs and barnacles, and jiarticularly on young 

 oysters as they occur attached to 

 stones and sticks of wood. With 

 its strong cutting and grinding teeth, 

 and powerful jaws, it can easily rip 

 off thick bunches of shells, and grind 

 them to pieces. The ordinary bait 

 for it in the north is the soft^shelled 

 clam, while in the soutli it is caught 

 frequently by the use of shiimps 

 and crabs." 



The sheepshead is one of the 

 favorite angle fishes, and has been 

 esteemed as such from the early days 

 of New York. As long ago as 1814, 



Dr. Mitchill wrote that "the outfitting of a sheepshead party is always .an occasion of 

 considerable excitement and high expectation, as I have often experienced. Whenever 

 a sheepshead is brought on board the boat, more joy is manifested than by the possession 

 of any other kind of fish. The sportsmen view the exercises so much above connnon 

 fishing, that the capture of the sheepshead is the most desirable combination of luck and 

 skill ; and the feats of hooking and landing him safely in the boat furnish abundant 

 materials for the most pleasing and hyperbolical stories. The sheepshead is a very stout 

 fish, and the hooks and line are strong in proportion ; yet he frequently breaks them and 

 makes his escape. Sheepshead have been caught with such fishing-tackle fastened to 

 their jaws. When the line or hook gives way, the accident makes a serious impression 

 on the company. As the possession of the sheepshead is a grand prize, so his escape 

 is felt as a depressing loss." In Mitchill's time, also, we learn that the fish was some, 

 times captured by spearing in the night by torch-light, in the wide and shallow bays of 

 Queens and Suffolk counties. 



The sheepshead, we are told by Mr. S. E. Clarke, begins its labors of rejiroduc- 

 tion in March and April along the Florida shores. Before this period it bad beea 



Fig. 125. — Diploihts probatoctphalus, sheepshead. 



