NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A YOUNG CRAB-EATER (ELACATE 

 CANADA), FROM THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY, NEW YORK. 



BY 



A. K. Fisher, M. D., 



DeJ>art'iit-jit of Agriculture. 



Although the adult Crab-eater, Cobia, Ling, or Coal-fish, as the spe- 

 cies is variously designated, has been well known for a long time, the 

 young, strange to say, has escaped notice until recently. During the 

 summer of 1887, Dr. Tarleton H. Beau made a study of the fishes of 

 Great Egg Harbor Bay, New Jersey, and among various things dis- 

 covered was the long-sought young of this species. In the report on 

 the collection (Bull. U. S. Fish Com., vii, 1888, 144) he describes two 

 individuals which were captured August 2 and August 23. 



The most striking difference between the adult and young fish, irre- 

 spective of size, is the shape of the caudal fin, which in the former is 

 deeply forked and in the latter uniformly rounded. In June, 1876 

 nearly eleven years before Dr. Bean captured these specimens, the 

 writer received a young fish of this species, measuring 95""" in length, 

 from a fisherman who caught it in a minnow seine about 1 mile north 

 of the village of Sing Sing, New York, in the broad and shallow cove 

 formed by the expansion of the Crotou River as it enters the Hudson. 



The occurrence of this fish in the lower Hudson Eiver, taken in 

 connection with the many austral forms of mammals, birds, reptiles, 

 •batrachians, insects, and plants which grow along its banks, shows 

 how decidedly southern are the fauna and flora of the southern portion 

 of Kew York State. 



The river seems to be about the northern limit of its distribution, 

 although adults are occasionally taken off Cape Cod, and once a speci- 

 men was captured in Boston Harbor. 



The species inhabits the warmer portions of both oceans and extends 

 north along our eastern coast regularly to the Chesapeake. Nothing 

 could be learned of the habits of the young fish further than it was 

 alone, as were Dr. Bean's specimens, so, presumably, they must soon sep. 

 arate and lead a solitary life, as the adults are said to do. The Crab- 

 eater is very voracious, feeding extensively on crabs and the smaller 

 fish, hunting its prey much after the manner of the pike. 



Specimens are taken that measure 1^ meters (5 feet) in length, and 

 weigh nearly 10 kilograms (20 pounds); hence the Crab-eater is entitled 

 to prominence as a food-fish, not only on account of the delicate flavor 

 of its flesh, but also for its suitable size. 



Proceediuga Katioual Museum, Vol. XIII— No. 811. 



195 



