832 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



looked npou as desirable, if pike, rock-fish, or white perch are to be 

 had. The flesh, however, cooked is dry and chippy ; and the difficulty 

 in removing the scales is an objection we have .often heard urged against 

 it by those interested parties, the cooks. In market it seldom brings 

 over ten cents per pound. 



3. — EocK-FiSH, Roccns Uneatits. 



This well-known fish is known throughout New Jersey by the two 

 names of " rock-fish " and " striped bass." The former name is used 

 by the fisherman of the Delaware almost exclusively; along the sea- 

 coast, the latter name is that principally nsed. 



In the neighborhood of Trenton, N. J., the rock-fish is found not only 

 in the river, but in such inflowing creeks as have water sufiicient for it 

 to swim. When small, it delights in wandering into small streams to 

 catch the myriads of small minnows that congregate in the eddies of 

 every brooklet. Prior to the erection of the dam at the mouth of the 

 Assunpink Creek, at Trenton, they undoubtedly ascended this consid- 

 erable creek, as in a fresh-water Indian shell-heap (kjokkenmoddings,) 

 eight miles from the outlet of the creek, I found many bones belonging 

 to this species. Tbey still, in large numbers, pass up Crosswick's Creek, 

 at Bordentown, N. J., as far as the dam at Groveville ; and in this creek, 

 some occasionally, if not regularly, breed. I am inclined to think that 

 the rock-fish wander up every stream that has a decided current, they 

 caring more for this than depth of water. Into really still waters, they 

 do not go, and if confined in such ponds, unless copiously fed with 

 si)ring-water, they will soon die. 



While the rock-fish cannot certainly be considered as a resident in 

 the Delaware, i. e., remaining throughout every month of the year, on 

 the other hand, their movements seem to have no regularity about them, 

 as in the case of shad or herring. We have seen them caught with a 

 net as early as February, but they are most abundant (small fry and up 

 to 10 inches in length) from July 1 to October 1. They are not very 

 abundant; not nearly as much so as the white perch {Morone ameri- 

 cana), with which, when small, they are always associated. As com- 

 pared with the white perch, they are about as 1 to 20, this estimate be- 

 ing based on the proportion taken, when fishing with a line for the lat- 

 ter, in the months of August and September ; and nothing noticed at 

 other times indicated that the proportion varied from that stated. 



From the Upper Delaware — non-tidal portion — and, in a less degree, 

 from the tide- water, the large rock-fish have greatly decreased during 

 the past twenty years; but what the cause may be, unless excessive 

 net-fishing, I cannot say. There can be no diminution of the amount of 

 food, certainly, for the river now is as full of cyprinoids as it well can be, 

 and from Philadelphia, northward, there is no perceptible defiling of the 

 waters by the manufactories upon the banks. There has, curiously 

 enough, been no noticeable diminution of the smaller ones, and judging 



