FISHES OF NEW YORK 201 



This alewife seldom exceeds 1 foot in length, the average mar- 

 ket examples being about 10 inches. The weight of the largest 

 is about ^ pound, and the average weight is about 5 or 6 

 ounces. 



The fish enter the rivers earlier than the shad and return to 

 the sea, or to estuaries adjacent to the river mouths, at some 

 undetermined date in the fall. During the summer months 

 enormous schools of full grown, but sexually immature alewives 

 migrate along the coast, feeding on small crustaceans and them- 

 selves furnishing food for bluefish, sharks, porpoises and other 

 predaceous animals; but none of them are known to enter fresh 

 waters. In the rivers the alewives appear to eat nothing, but 

 they can be captured with small artificial flies of various colors. 

 Their eggs are somewhat adhesive and number from 60,000 to 

 100,000 to the individual. They are deposited in shoal water; 

 spawning begins when the river water is at 55 to 60 F. The 

 period of hatching is not definitely known, but is believed to 

 exceed four days. 



During the spring and summer the young grow to a lengtli of 

 2 or 3 inches; after their departure from the streams nothing is 

 known of their progress, but it is believed that they reach 

 maturity in four years. We have no means of learning the age 

 of the immature fish seen in great schools off shore, and thus far 

 the rate of growth is unsettled. 



The branch alewife, though full of small bones, is a very 

 valuable food fish and is consumed in the fresh condition as well 

 as dry salted, pickled and smoked. The fry can be reared in 

 ponds by placing adults in the waters to be stocked a little 

 before their spawning season; and they furnish excellent food 

 for bass, rockfish, trout, salmon, and other choice fishes. The 

 proper utilization of the immense oversupply of these fish in 

 Lake Ontario has become a serious economic problem. 



Alewives are caught in seines, gill nets, traps and pounds and 

 they are often taken by anglers with artificial flies. 



