AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2809 



By Hon. Mr. Kellogg : 



Q. The fish were mackerel that were brought out of the inud! A. 

 /When after eels they brought up mackerel out of the mud, in several 

 instances, in January. 



By Mr. Dana : 



Q. What can you tell the Commission about the period of the spawn- 

 ing of mackerel! A. Mackerel spawn almost immediately after they 

 visit our shores. The earliest fish taken in the weirs and pounds in 

 Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay are full of ripe spawn, so that when 

 the fish are taken out of the pounds and pot into boats to bring them to 

 shore there are sometimes quarts and pecks of the spawn in the bottom 

 of the boats. It runs out with the utmost freedom, as it does with any 

 full spawning fish. That period ranges from the middle of May on our 

 coast, and from June and July in Bay St. Lawrence. Mr. Whiteaves 

 says they spawn in Bay Chaleurs in June. The season extends from 

 the early part of May to the beginning of July. 



Q. Where do the mackerel deposit the eggs? A. The mackerel, 

 like all sea fish, with the exception of the herring, the torn-cod, and scul- 

 pin, has a free floating egg. The egg is discharged in the water wher- 

 ever the fish happen to be, inshore or offshore, and it floats just under 

 the same condition that the egg of the cod does. It has a small globule 

 of oil as a buoy, and it floats on the surface or anywhere from that to half 

 way down, or, perhaps, almost to the bottom, depending on the gravity 

 of the egg and the specific gravity of the water. 



Q. Is the mackerel supposed to be able to control the time when it 

 will spawn f A. When the egg is ripe it has to be discharged, what- 

 ever happens. The egg cannot be retained after it is overripe. 



Q. How do the eggs of each mackerel compare in numbers with 

 those of the cod ! A. The average of the mackerel spawn is about 

 500,000. They are very small, as you can imagine, for mackerel is not 

 a very large fish. The eggs, when spawned, are only about one-fiftieth 

 of an inch in diameter, about half the size of that of the cod. They 

 vary in size, some being smaller and others larger, but they only vary 

 within moderate limits. 



Q. You say they spawned all along the American coast ? A. I pre- 

 sume they spawn in some numbers along the entire coast from the shore 

 of Virginia to the coast of Labrador ; formerly they spawned on the coast 

 of Newfoundland, when mackerel were caught there, where they were 

 very abundant a great many years ago, and also off the Bay of Fundy, 

 when mackerel were abundant there. 



Q. What is the food of the young mackerel ? A. The young mackerel, 

 like the young of most other fish, feed on diatoms and other marine plants 

 of low origin. They feed on the eggs of crabs and marine animals, 

 probably on the small eggs of fish themselves, and as they grow they 

 eat anything small enough to be swallowed. They don't bite as blnefish 

 but they take everything at one mouthful and swallow it whole. 



Q. And what is the food of the adult fish T A; The adult fish feed 

 y largely upon young fish, sand lantz and young herring, and prob- 



>ly upon the young of their own kind. They are cannibals, as all fish 

 are. They feed very largely upon what is called hay seed or cayenne; that 

 is_a minute kind of shrimp, which is so dimiuuMve you require a micro- 

 scope to separate it into its component parts. They feed also on large 

 shrimps and on the young of large crabs. Its favorite food in summer 

 is what fishermen have described as all eyes, that is, young fish which, 

 so far as I can judge, must be young mackerel, because I do not know 



