66 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



BLUE-FISH, 



• 



2. Come in spriug and leave in the fall. Come about the 20th of 

 May. 



21. Not so near the top as the menhaden. We only know they are 

 here by first catching them in the pounds. 



76. Caught in pounds before they bite the hook. 



8. The larger ones caught first ; weigh from live to eight pounds. 



11. They go eastward. Come in from the sea, like mackerel. Most 

 of the migrating fish come in like scup, some running nearer the shore 

 than others. 



23. Never saw one with a spawn in it, 



04. There are many young ones about here. 



5. They are decreasing; t!ie decrease began within four or five years. 



6. 1 think those taken in the pounds uuike much diflerence. 



75. The largest haul I ever knew in a pound was about seven hun- 

 dred. 



20. They begin to take the hook about the 10th of June. 



11. They scatter in summer, and school again when they run out. 



37. Any fish that are swimming ; they want something to chase. 

 Never knew them to eat crabs or shell-fish. Never saw worms in their 

 stomachs. 



42. Know nothing about their spawning. 



68. Never knew of any disease among them. 



82. Yes ; many are salted in the fall, as it is then fat, 



83. Never used for manure. 



84. Highest, eight cents a pound ; and lowest, four. That is as 

 much as the price last year. They were scarce this year, 



SPANISH MACKEREL. 



2. We began to catch them two years ago, about the 25th of July. 

 Caught till the middle of September. 



4. More plenty last year than the year before. 

 37. About the same as that of striped-bass. 



8. Average about three iiounds ; never saw any of the very large 

 ones, so called, 



SEA-BASS. 



2. First taken about the 1st of May. It is found here in the summer 

 and in the winter. 



5. Much scarcer than formerly. 



8. Have caught them that weighed twelve pounds. 



11. Much like scup ; but do not school as much as scup. 



75. Have caught three or four hundred in a ])ound at a time. 



83. They used to put them on the land about Seconnet. 

 46. 1 think on the eel-grass bottom, 



37. They catch some fish ami eat crabs. Mackerels' intestines are the 

 best bait ; and the stomach of the menhaden is largely used as bait. 

 82. Never. 



84. Highest price, six cents a pound, and the lowest, four. Have 

 known the price as high as fifteen and eighteen cents, 



STRIFED-BAS,-', 



11. They go eastward, like scup and sea-bass. 

 2. First caught about the fiist of May, 



