NOTES ON NEW JERSEY FISHES. 355 



y\v. .1. R. Vandcrvoer says this fisli so.miis to ho well known to the 

 Dehiwaie River fishermen, wlio chiini it ililTrrs from the common 

 sturgeon in having- full-dcvelopiMl mill and ova when twelve inches 

 long; that it seldom or never reaches over three feet in length; is 

 mostly transparent when held to the light, while the conunon stur- 

 geon is solid and not at all transparent ; that the bony dorsal bucklers 

 appear to differ, and that its snout is always blunt, even when small, 

 wliil" that of the common sturgeon is sharp when young, thougli 

 Itlnnt only with age. The flesh is very highly prized about Trenton, 

 and the fish was known locally as the "Delaware salmon." Fishennen 

 say rliar this species makes but a single run in the spring, and that 

 on one moon, generally the full moon in April or late March. This 

 fish is mostly called the mouche to distinguish it from the common 

 sturgeon. 



Family CLUPEID^. 



Pomolobus mediocris (Mitchill). 

 Hickory Shad. 



Reported by fishermen to Dr. Phillips as occurring at Corson's Inlet. 



Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson). 

 Alewife. 



In Ikaccoon Creek, at Bridgeport. Gloucester county, tlie *"'moon eye" 

 is said by the fishermen to arrive late in May with the next. Many 

 have Ixen taken in the creek at times and they are valued as food. 



Mr. Emlen Martin says they run in the Rancoca? Creek as far as 

 llaines|)ort, Burlington county. They arrive later than the shad, or 

 about the middle of May. 



^Ir. .7. B. Vandcrveer, of Trenton, says that the alewife still ascends 

 the Delaware in the spring in great numbers, and formerly in countless 

 thousands, being the object of extensive fisheries for many years. 

 They are the first herring to apjiear, and come with the shad, or a 

 little later. They appear usually in April, fully four weeks in most 

 seasons before the "black belly," though some have been taken as early 

 as February. Though the fishermen admit that their ascension is 



