56 FISHES OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK 



Our three Silversides can be mistaken for no other fishes unless possibly 

 the Anchovies, but the pig-like snout of the Anchovies extending further 

 forward than the mouth will distinguish those at a glance. The Rough 

 Silverside has the hind margin of each scale incised in a manner resem- 

 bling the teeth of a comb. This renders the fish rough to the touch, by 

 which characteristic it can readily be identified. It is not uncommon 

 southward, but a rare straggler only in the vicinity of New York. The 

 Common Silverside, sometimes called "Spiering," is a very abundant 

 species in salt water near New York where it may be found throughout 

 the year. It also enters brackish bays and estuaries, occasionally ascends 

 to pure fresh water, and forms an important item of food with preda- 

 ceous fishes everywhere. Large schools made up of Silversides of various 

 sizes may be seen in the summer time from almost any coastwise dock. 

 The Fresh- water Silverside occurs only locally in fresh or slightly brackish 

 water at the heads of the bays, and differs from the common species in 



FRESH-WATER SILVERSIDE 



having only about seventeen or eighteen soft rays in the anal fin instead 

 of twenty-three. Although separated by slight technical characters the 

 two are quite distinct economically. Unlike its salt-water relative, the 

 Fresh- water Silverside swims in schools which are generally made up of 

 fishes all of the same size. It is also a fatter and less bony fish and fried 

 well is the delicious crisp "whitebait" which we sometimes see on our 

 bills of fare. 



A second family consists of the Mullets proper, fishes of moderate 

 size, generally less than one foot, with more or less cylindrical bodies, 

 rounded snouts, small mouths with a triangular lower jaw. They swim 

 in active closely packed schools and browse in the bottom. They spend 

 the winter with us hibernating in the mud. The Common or Striped 

 Mullet has the soft dorsal and anal fins without scales and the scales of 

 the upper part of the sides are dark centrally, giving more or less the 



