124 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The leading fishing ground is Albemarle Sound and its tributaries, where 

 millions of alewives are caught annually in seines, pound nets, and gill nets. 

 More than half a million fish have here been taken at one haul of a seine, and 

 hauls of 100,000 to 250,000 are not rare. Other important waters for alewives 

 are Croatan and Pamlico sounds, and Neuse River. Many of the fish are sold 

 fresh, but the principal trade is in salted fish, which are put up in various ways 

 in barrels holding 200 pounds. There is little difference in the food value of the 

 two species, but the branch herring is reputed to be somewhat better. 



109. POMOLOBUS ^STIVALIS (MitchiU).* 

 "Herring"; "School Herring"; "Blueback"; "May Herring"; "Glut Herring". 



Clupea oestivalis Mitchill, Transactions Literary and Philosopical Society of New York, i, 1815, 456; New York. 



Smith 1893a, 191, 195, 199; Albemarle Sound and tributaries. 

 Alosa cyanonoton Storer, Proceedings Boston Society of Natural History, ii, 242, 1848; Provincetown, Massa^- 



chusetts. 

 Pomolobus oestivalis, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 426 pi. Ixxi, fig. 190. 



Diagnosis. — Similar to P. pseudoharengus, but with longer body (the depth contained 3.5 

 times in total length), somewhat shorter head, smaller eye (.25 length of head), less elevated 

 dorsal fin, and black peritoneum. Color: back bluish, opercles and sides with coppery luster, 

 below silvery; about 5 narrow dark lengthwise streaks along the upper rows of scales, {wsti- 

 valis, of the summer.) 



Fig. 42. Glut Herring. Pomolobus OEstivalis. 



The glut herring is found from St. Johns River, Florida, along the entire 

 coast of the United States and also in the British maritime provinces. The 

 great centers of abundance are Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound. 



The habits, size, etc., of this species are similar to those of the branch her- 

 ring, and the remarks regarding the latter apply in general to this fish. The glut 

 herring, however, comes later than the branch herring, usually appearing sud- 

 denly, in enormous schools, about the middle of the shad season; and it does not 

 as a rule ascend the streams far above tide water. It spawns a shorter distance 

 from the sea than does the branch herring, the number of eggs, spawning habits, 

 movements and growth of young, etc., being the same in the two species. 



*This fish has been called CBstivalis by recent authors, in the belief that Mitchill's name applied to it. 

 It is probable, however, as Dr. T. H. Bean has shown (Catalogue of the Fishes of New York, 1903), that 

 the fish so designated by Mitchill was the hickory shad. 



