SMELTS 



THERE are about a dozen species of 

 this family, which inhabit the cold 

 and temperate northern seas, but 

 they are most plentiful along the coast of 

 New England and the Middle States. The 

 Eastern smelt grows occasionally to the 

 length of a foot, but average about seven 

 inches, and they appear to associate to- 

 gether in vast schools, somewhat according 

 to size, so that many fishermen contend that 

 there are two kinds. But Dr. Bean ex- 

 plains, " that most fish that appear in 

 schools, mostly all of a size, are the spawn 

 of a single fish." The smelt remains about 

 the coast, in the bays, estuaries and lower 

 parts of rivers throughout the year, save 

 when it ascends fresh water streams to 

 breed. As soon as the ice is out and the 

 water has cleared from the spring freshets, 

 smelts appear in the brooks, at first in small 



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