SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 



131 



of all ocean fishes. Its range extends from Maine and Nova Scotia to Florida, 

 and thence through the West Indies to Brazil. The schools begin to arrive on 

 our coast from the sea in spring and continue to appear throughout the summer, 

 departing in fall, although in the extreme south there may be some fish present 

 throughout the year. On the North Carolina coast large or small schools may be 

 found from February to December, but the movements are irregular and not 

 understood by the fishermen. 



The full-sized menhaden is 12 to 14 inches long; the largest fish recorded, 18 

 inches long, was taken at Woods Hole, Mass. Fish of all sizes are found along 

 the entire coast. The small fish, 1.5 to 5 inches long, are abundant through- 

 out the season in harbors, rivers, bays, sounds, etc., swimming in serpentine 

 schools and furnishing food for numerous other fishes. 



In North Carolina, as in most other states, the menhaden is known by many 

 aliases, some of which are very inappropriate, as will be seen from the foregoing 

 list. To apply the name "shad" to this species, as is here done, is unfortunate, 



Fig. 44. Menhaden. Brevoortia tyrannus. 



and has led to the calling of the shad by the name of "white shad". It may 

 be noted, as a matter of historic interest, that Lawson (1709) refers to this fish 

 as "fat-back", a name still in general use in the state. 



The menhaden feeds on minute floating plants and animals, which are 

 taken into the gaping mouth while the fish is actively swimming. The w^ell 

 known whirling movements of the schools of both large and small fish are doubt- 

 less performed to facilitate feeding when the presence of an abundance of food 

 has been determined. The mouth, with its numerous highly specialized gill- 

 rakers, is admirably adapted for obtaining from the water the tiny organisms 

 which swarm in the bays, sounds, estuaries, and inlets. 



As is usually the case with fishes whose coastwise range is extensive, the 

 spawning period of the menhaden is protracted. In New England spawning 

 takes place in late spring or early summer, while from Chesapeake Bay south- 

 ward the season is late fall or early winter. In the Beaufort region there is evi- 

 dence that the eggs are deposited in November both in the open ocean and in the 

 inside waters. Mr. S. G. Worth has supplied the following notes on the spawn- 

 ing and young of the menhaden at Beaufort: 



