SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 181 



This species is the most abundant of the locaUty, and affords sustenance and employment 

 to tliousands of persons on the coast of North Carohna. From the month of May, when small- 

 sized individuals appear, fishing continues during the entire summer with gill and small draw 

 nets, and in the latter part of August, as the fish commence to school preparatory to migration, 

 the regular seine fishing commences, and continues frequently until November. The schools 

 appear to come from the northward through Albemarle, Pamlico, and Core sounds, gradually 

 working their way to the southward. Their departure through the various inlets seems to 

 depend upon a favorable state of the wind, which should be from the northward, for it has been 

 noticed frequently that when the wind hauled, the schools of mullet already without the harbor 

 have suddenly turned, re-entering the inlet, and pursued their course southward through 

 Bogue Sound. Their movements through the water are quite slow, and a person without 

 exertion may keep pace with them walking upon the beach. The numbers taken are simply 

 enormous, sometimes as many as 500 barrels being secured at a single haul. It was estimated 

 by competent observers that not less than 12,000 barrels of mullet were captured on the coast 

 of North Carolina Friday, September 22, 1871. Regarding the spawning grounds of M. lineatuft 

 considerable uncertainty exists. At the time of their arrival at P^ort Macon, in August and 

 September, the females are enormously distended with roe, some, however, being more so than 

 others and it is supposed that the process of oviposit takes place from July until December, 

 many remaining in the sounds for the purpose. Many schools of young mullet have been seen 

 in Beaufort harbor during December and January, which could have been but a few weeks old. 

 These young fishes suffer from a curious disease, which is characterised by the presence of a 

 gradually increasing film upon the eyes, which finally destroys the sight, and myriads perish 

 from this cause. 



Observations on the spawning habits of the mullet in the vicinity of Beau- 

 fort, conducted in the years 1903-6 by Mr. S. G. Worth, su intendent of the 

 hatchery at Edenton, indicate that the species deposits its eggs during Novem- 

 ber and December. A specimen 22 inches long and 4.75 pounds in weight taken 

 at the Mullet Pond fishery on November 20, 1903, yielded a 12-ounce roe. The 

 cultivation of this species on the coast of North Carolina will doubtless soon be 

 taken up by the general government. 



The food of the mullet is varied. Twelve fish examined by Dr. Coker at 

 Beaufort in June and July contained amphipods, annelids, small shrimps and 

 ophiurans, and bivalve moUusk shells. 



In winter and spring there occur in the salt, brackish, and fresh waters of the 

 Norih Carolina coast multitudes of small mullet, mostly under 1.5 inches long, 

 with a dark bluish or greenish back and lustrous silvery sides and belly. These 

 fish have only 2 anal spines, no adipose eyelid, 28 to 33 scales in lateral series, and 

 various other characters in which they differ from the adult mullet; and they 

 have usually been identified as the whirligig mullet, Querimana gyrans Jordan 

 & Gilbert, which is recorded from Massachusetts to Florida. Accorchng to 

 Dr. Bean (op. cit.), however, this nominal species in reality represents the 

 young stage of the fan-tail mullet (Micgil Irichodon Poey), the differences 

 noted being due to age. This author states that the third anal spine 

 in young mullets is only a simple articulated ray until the fish reach a 

 length of 40 to 50 mm. (1.6 to 2.00 inches); then an articulation breaks off, the 

 point becomes sharpened, and hard material is deposited, so that a slender but 

 perfect spine is formed. The range of the adult fan-tail mullet is from the 



