T. FAMILIES RELATED TO THE CLUPEID^l. 



181. THE MUD-SHAD DOROSOMA CEPEDIANUM. 



The family Dorosomatidce is represented on our Atlantic coast by a single species, the "Mud- 

 Shad," Dorosoma cepedianum, which is abundant in brackish waters along the coast from Delaware 

 Bay southward to Mexico. In the Chesapeake region it is known as the "Mud-Shad," " Winter 

 Shad," or "Stink Shad"; in North Carolina as the "Hairy -back" or the "Thread Herring"; in the 

 Saint John's Eiver as the "Gizzard Shad," " Stink Shad," or "White-eyed Shad." 



The names "Gizzard Shad" or "Hickory Shad" refer to the peculiar muscular stomach, which 

 is of about the size of a hickory-nut and is shaped like the gizzard of a fowl. The fish is found in 

 brackish waters, or in the sea, for the whole length of our coast. It enters all streams after 

 becoming land-locked in ponds, and throughout the whole Mississippi Valley it is permanently 

 resident in large numbers in the larger streams and reservoirs. Since the construction of the 

 canals it has appeared in force in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. 



This fish is extremely abundant in many localities, particularly in the Saint John's Eiver, 

 Florida, where it becomes an annoyance to the fishermen by getting into their nets, several hundred 

 bushels being sometimes taken in a shad net. They are also sometimes annoying to fishermen 

 using gill-nets for catching mullet. In the Potomac they are abundant and attain a maximum 

 size and weight. Their flesh is coarse and not delicate in flavor, but they are by no means 

 unpalatable, and on the tributaries of the Chesapeake they are extensively eaten by the negroes. 

 In the Saint John's Eiver they are made into guano. A factory for this purpose was in existence 

 in 1874 at Black Point, above Palatka. They breed in summer, and are supposed to feed, like the 

 Menhaden, to a great extent upon the bottom mud, from which, after swallowing, they separate 

 the organic contents. 



In the Great Lake regions the Gizzard Shad is sometimes split and salted as "Lake Shad," but 

 it probably meets with little sale, owing to the inferior quality of the flesh and the presence of the 

 vast number of small bones that make up the skeleton. It is usually thrown away by the fisher- 

 men, and when brought to market it is only bought by the poor or the ignorant. It is not infre- 

 quently seen in the markets of Washington in spring. In the West it is sometimes seined by 

 farmers in winter in still places in the rivers and peddled about the towns. 



182. THE TAEPUM MEGALOPS THRISSOIDES. 



In our waters the most important member of this family is the Tarpuin, Megalops thrissoides, 

 an immense herring like fish, which occurs in the Western Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 ranging north to Cape Cod and south at least to Northern Brazil. It is somewhat abundant in the 

 West Indies, and stragglers have been taken as far to the eastward as the Bermudas. This 

 species attains the length of five or six feet, and is covered with enormous circular scales of one 

 inch to two inches and a half in diameter, the exposed portions of which are covered with a 

 silvery epidermis. The fish, when alive, presents a very brilliant metallic appearance, and the 

 scales are much prized by curiosity hunters and for fancy work in the Florida curiosity shops. 

 They are a staple article of trade, selling for from ten to twenty-five cents each, the price paid to 



.the fishermen being about fifty cents per dozen. 

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