10 FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



< ight narrow black lines, growing smaller as they reachjthe belly. 

 The width of the body is two-sevenths of its length, which is about 

 1'our times the length of the head. The mouth is extraordinarily 

 large, and besides the usual teeth of the inside rim there are two 

 patches on the tongue. The eye is large and well rounded, giving 

 an index of the bold nature of the fish. The color of the striped 

 bass is white underneath, merging to a silvery aspect, then to an 

 olive hue, and over the dorsal giving place to a metallic blue. There 

 are two dorsal fins, the first has nine spines, sharp and strong; the 

 second has one spine and twelve soft rays. The anal fin, which is 

 moderately large, has three spines and eleven soft rays. 



The striped bass varies in size from eight-inch little fellows up to 

 monsters of one hundred pounds. The greed of all sizes is, however, 

 the same. Those of three and four pounds run in company, and 

 -hence are popularly known as "school bass;" these it is that give 

 such prime sport to fishermen in New York waters, but let no one 

 imagine on this account that big bass are unknown to their rods. 

 One of a hundred pounds is on record that "yielded recreant" to the 

 xod of an old troller accustomed to practice his art in the turbulent 

 waters of Hell -Gate. 



The "run," as it is called, of bass commences in the spring months, 

 and about the tenth of June the large ones begin to reat-h our mar- 

 kets. The capture of "school bass" continues throughout the sum- 

 mer, and about the end of August the celebrated surf-fishing conies 

 in vogue. The striped bass runs up the estuaries and rivers to de- 

 posit its spawn, and sometimes ascends even to fresh water. This 

 .annual movement of the bass commences in the spring, and fishing 

 is good until November. 



As beseems such a noble fish, the striped bass reaches perfection 

 of size and courage in the midst of strong, sweeping tides, in the 

 clear, deep waters of the Sound, and along the rugged rocky beaches 

 of the ocean side of Long Island and Martha's Vineyard. Such 

 hunting grounds could only produce such a fish as the bass, which 

 indeed shows the effect of their surroundings in his shape and inove- 

 ,ments. His hard, muscular, well-rounded body, his large, bright eye 

 ;and rapacious-looking mouth, warrant us in applying to him Frank 



