468 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



37. The nature of their food is mud from the fresh-water rivers, scum, 

 &c., afloat on the water, and marine insects, which are found along 

 shore and on the reefs in the sounds and rivers. 



38. There are no special peculiarities in the manner of feeding these 

 fish known, no attention having been paid to that particular. 



39. Nor is it known what amount of food they consume. When taken, 

 the stomach or pouch is generally full of mud, and they are very fat 

 until they have spawned. 



40. The sexes differ somewhat in color and shape during the breeding 

 season, the male being of a pale-yellow and the female a bright-yellow 

 color in respect to their tins and tails. The male is equally as long, but 

 of a more straight shape. The edges of the females are generally 

 tinted with bright-yellow specks. 



41. There are no special or unusual habits of these fish during the 

 spawning season known to me. 



42. Lines and nets interfere somewhat with their progress up the 

 rivers, but aside from this spawning is not interfered with to any great 

 extent by lines and nets. 



46. According to my views, from their movements and not from act- 

 ual knowledge, these fish deposit their spawn in the beds of the princi- 

 pal rivers — the Neuse, Tar, and Eoanoke — about the last of I^ovember. 



47. I can give no account of their process, &c. 



48. The water is sometimes whitened by the milt and spawn. 



49. They generally select the warmest places for si)awning, but the 

 exact temperature is not known ; it varies from one to ten degrees, owing 

 to the weather. 



50. The eggs are laid in two to three fathoms of water, and supposed 

 to lie on the bottom. 



51. The spawn is of the size of a mustard-seed, and of a light-red 

 color. 



52. The number for each fish has not been ascertained. 



53. Either for one season or for lifetime. 



54. The eggs when spawned sink to the bottom, but whether they 

 become attached to stones, grass, &c., I do not know. 



55. It is unknown whether the fish heap up or construct any kind of 

 nests of sand, gravel, or grass. 



57. It is not known by any one on the coast when the eggs are 

 hatched or in what period after they are laid. 



62. They are never seen carrying them in their mouths or otherwise. 



63. The crab, eel, perch, trout, and several other species of fish de- 

 stroy the spawn and the young fish. The parent fish never interferes 

 with either. 



64. The young of this fish are found in great abundance on the shores 

 of rivers and sounds. 



65. They appear to feed the same as the old ones, as described in an- 

 swer 37. 



