FISHES OF NEW YORK 205 



fourth of the total without caudal. The dorsal has 13 divided 

 rays and 4 simple ones; anal 19 divided and 3 simple. Scales 

 1660 to 65. Scutes 22+16. 



The color is bluish or greenish with much silvery; a dusky 

 blotch close behind the head, two thirds as large as the eye, 

 and frequently from several to many, in one or two rows, 

 behind this. The lining of the belly walls is pale. 



The shad is known also as the white shad, and in the colonial 

 days it was known to the negroes on the lower Potomac river 

 as the whitefish. It is found naturally along the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, ascending streams at various dates from January 

 in its extreme southern limit to June in far northern waters. 

 ]n the Delaware and Susquehanna it makes its appearance in 

 April and departs after spawning^ but remains sometimes as 

 late as July 1.8, and many die. 



The original distribution of the shad has been widely extended 

 by artificial introduction. In certain rivers flowing into the 

 Gulf of Mexico the fish has been established by planting. In 

 the Ohio river a fishery has been created by the same method; 

 and in the Sacramento river, Cal., the shad was successfully 

 introduced, and it has colonized not only this river but all suit- 

 able rivers from San Francisco to southern Alaska. It is now 

 one of the common market species in San Francisco and other 

 west coast cities. 



In the Susquehanna the shad was formerly one of the most 

 important native food fishes, but its range is now very limited 

 on account of obstruction by dams. 20 years ago the fish 

 commissioners reported that a few shad are taken yearly above 

 the Clark's Ferry dam, none or at most a few dozen above the 

 Shamokin dam, none above the Xanticoke dam and none above 

 Williamsport. The largest run of shad that has been known 

 to pass the Columbia dam was that of 1867. " In 1871 the finest 

 Columbia shad were hawked in the market at Harrisburg, 30 

 miles from the fisheries, at considerably less than a dollar a 

 pair. The catch at Columbia exceeded 100,000." 



