SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 



291 



From Chesapeake Bay to Mexico this species is more or less abundant on 

 sandy shores; the young are found in numbers as far north as New York. 



The "pig-fish" or "hog-fish" is one of the commonest food fishes of the 

 North CaroHna coast, occurring in all the sounds and salt-water estuaries, and 

 also on the outlying banks. At Beaufort it is abundant, and is present through- 

 out the year. The spawning season is May and June. While the fish reaches a 

 length of 15 inches, those caught in North Carolina do not average more than 8 or 

 10 inches. 



The stomachs of 42 adult hog-fish examined by Dr. Coker between June 15 

 and July 19, 1904, contained for the most part annelids of various kinds (Axio- 

 thea, Diopatra, Cerebratulus, and mutilated parts resembling Rhyncobolus and 

 Arenicola; also pectinarian sand-tubes). Solenomya shells were very commonly 

 present, and in one case a part of the body of the mollusk. Amphipods of 

 various species were also often found to constitute an article of diet. The forins 



Fig. 129. Pig-fish; Hog-fish. Orthopristis chrysopterus. 



found only 2 or 3 times were (Gebia large and small), parts of young common 

 blue crabs, and fragments of ophiurans. In single fishes there were nematode 

 worms, small ascidians, eggs and young of the horse-shoe crab, abdomen of her- 

 mit crab, an isopod, and fragments of grass. The stomachs of six hog-fish 2 to 4 

 inches long seined at Town Marsh were full of small shrimps. 



The "hog-fish" is one of the leading food fishes of the state, and is caught 

 for market with hand-lines and seines, the most extensive fishing being carried on 

 in the Beaufort region, in Pamlico Sound in Hyde County, and on the coast of 

 New Hanover County. At Beaufort it is one of the most important fishes, find- 

 ing a ready market in North Carolina and at Norfolk, Petersburg, and other 

 points. The entire catch for sale is now disposed of fresh, but at one time the 

 fish were mostly salted and sold in Baltimore. Many are still salted in fall for 

 local consumption. The fish is considered of much finer quality in fall — in 



