130 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



NOTES FROM THE STATE FISHERIES LABORATORY.* 



Will F. Thompson, Editor. 



THE "DAY" AND "N IGHT" • SURF- 

 FISHES OF NORTHERN CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



It is very obvious that we know com- 

 pai-atively little about the fishes which 

 inhabit the surf, or come there to spawn 

 at the proper seasons. Notes regarding 

 them are all of some value and usually 

 will form valuable additions to our 

 knowledge. The following are made from 

 specimens received from Captain Tib- 

 betts, of Eureka, to whom we are there- 

 fore considerably indebted. 



In California Fish and Game for 

 October, 1919 (Volume 5, No. 4), on 

 page 203, Captain Tibbetts is quoted 

 regarding two species of fish which are 

 caught in the surf. One of these, known 

 as the "night surf-fisli," he believed to 

 be the grunion, but upon our expressing 

 some doubt regarding this, he sent us 

 three specimens, taken a little south of 

 Trinidad Harbor, on the ocean beach. 

 They prove to be a species of the genus 

 Osmerits, and its occurrence under the 

 conditions noted is a fact well worthy of 

 attention. What its habits are, and 

 whether it spawns in the surf, is not 

 known. 



Captain Tibbetts was also kind enough 

 to send us four specimens of the "day 

 surf-fish." These, as we surmised in the 

 article quoted above, belonged to the 

 genus Hypomcsus, which is caught in the 

 surf along the California Coast north of 

 Monterey. 



THE GRUNION AT MONTEREY. 

 The spawning of the grunion is not 

 known north of Long Beach, either to 

 scientific men or to others. But, as 

 Mr. Carl L. Hubbs has pointed out to us 

 in a recent letter, the type specimen of 

 the species was recorded as from San 

 Francisco. Jordan and Hubbs in their 

 review of the family Atherinidw state 

 that the original specimen came from 

 San Francisco Bay, in which they sup- 

 posed the species to live. However, this 

 is improbable, when the life history of 

 the species and its haliits of spawning 



in the sand are considered. It "s more 

 likely that the fish was found -n the 

 markets, and came from some other 

 locality on the open ocean close to San 

 Francisco. A specimen of the grunion 

 was found, on February 28 of this year, 

 in the Monterey markets among fish 

 taken locally in a seine. 



In view of this proof of the presence 

 of the species in these waters, high hopes 

 were entertained that this remarkable 

 species would be found spawning on the 

 beach in northern waters, and attempts 

 were made, in so far as circumstances 

 permitted, to find them or their eggs. 



On the night of March 6 Mr. Wey- 

 mouth and Mr. Sette kept watch on 

 the beach at Oceano, and found no 

 sign of spawning nsh, although the 

 tide was the same approximately as 

 that of the first run of the preceding 

 year at Long Beach. Since the beach at 

 Oceano is a splendid one, it was hoped 

 that proof of their presence would be 

 obtained there if any run occurred. 



On April 6 a thorough search for eggs 

 was made by Mr. Thompson, Mr. Sette 

 and Miss Edwards along the beach 

 between Del Monte and Seaside in 

 Monterey Bay, but no signs of them were 

 found, although if spawning had occurred 

 to any extent durhig the preceding full 

 moon tides, which were at their crest on 

 the third of April, they would have been 

 found. Again, on May 5, two nights 

 after the full of the moon of May 3, 

 Mr. Thompson and Mr. Weymouth 

 patrolled the beach during the proper 

 stages of the tide, but saw no signs of 

 the fish themselves. In conjunction with 

 the total lack of popular knowledge of 

 a run, these attempts throw a certain 

 amount of doubt on the occurrence of 

 any extensive spawning run in these 

 waters. It is of course still possible 

 that a small run occurs somewhere near 

 by, perhaps even on Del Monte Beach, or 

 it may be that the specimens to be 

 found here are simply strays. Further 

 search will be made whenever opportunity 

 offers. 



"California State Fisheries Laboratory, Contribution No. 19. 



