170 Amei^ican Fisheries Society 



On August 18 to 20, at Prince's Bay, Staten Island, 

 seven fish 4yo to 5 inches long were obtained by the writ- 

 er, and others of about the same size observed. It will be 

 noticed that these agree very well in size with the smaller 

 ones at Sheepshead Bay of a corresponding date. 



It is reported that on September 7 many Snappers were 

 taken at Prince's Bay about 6 inches in length, but the 

 Sheepshead Bay fish were mostly larger, for Dr. Wieg- 

 mann measured about 100 there on August 30 with aver- 

 age size 18 cm. (7 in.). 



On July 30, 1913, the writer found small Snappers 1% 

 to 2 inches long, swimming in close-ranked schools like 

 mullet or herrings, at Lloyd's Point, Long Island. In the 

 water they looked distinctly silvery and deep, with dark 

 ends to their tails. A small detachment rather close in 

 to the gravelly shore was rounded up with a minnow 

 seine, and about forty little fish all about of a size cap- 

 tured, verifying the identification of the others that had 

 been seen. At this date there were also a few larger fish, 

 perhaps Sy^ inches long, in smaller companies much 

 swifter and wider ranging, already beginning to strike at 

 the regulation bait. Probably there is a marked change 

 in habit at about this age. Well-preserved material which 

 would admit of critical stomach examination would make 

 this easy to determine, but unfortunately our Museum 

 does not possess such material at present. 



In past years the v/riter has seen a few much smaller 

 fish, probably less than an inch in length, occurring singly 

 in sheltered waters on the ocean side of Long Island, near 

 New York. These were weak-swimming, and easy to 

 capture, like baby trout or salmon in the shallows at the 

 edges of the streams where they breed, — fishes which a 

 little later are leading a more active and predaceous life 

 in the channels of the same streams. Unfortunately he 

 has now no specimens of these smallest Bluefish pre- 

 served from which accurate dates and measurements 

 could be obtained. 



