INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI, LOUISIANA, AND TEXAS. 297 



liable showing size, sex, and condition of eel catfish examined at Morgan City and Melville, 

 La., April 22 to May 6, 1897. 



Summary. 



Species. 



Blue cat 

 Goujon. 

 Eel cat . 



Total 

 numher 

 exam- 

 ined. 



374 

 42 



Sex. 



Male. 



126 

 2 

 1 



Female 



227 

 40 



7 



Sex not 

 deter- 

 mined. 



Spawning condition. 



Spent. 



257 



18 



3 



Ripe. 



Par- 

 tially 

 devel- 

 oped. 



Imma- 

 ture. 



Condi- 

 tion not 

 evident. 



While exact measurements were made of only about 424 fish, several 

 hundred more (perhaps 2,000) were examined more or less carefully, 

 particularly with reference to their size. From these observations, as 

 well as from the measurements recorded in the preceding tables, it is 

 evident that a very large proportion of the fish now handled are com- 

 paratively small and young fish which have not yet attained that size 

 which puts them at their maximum value. A few specific instances 

 may be noted. Ten yellow cats dressed 83 pounds; one lot of 48 and 

 another lot of 49 blue cats dressed 100 pounds, while another lot of 

 40 dressed only 50 pounds ; in another case 70 blue cats were required 

 to dress 100 pounds. According to one of the dealers, in 1884 from 14 

 to 20 of the smallest fish were sufficient to dress 100 pounds, while 

 the larger fish were much more abundant than now and weighed each 

 from 60 to over 100 pounds rough. lie says the size began to decrease 

 four years ago, but the greatest decrease has been during the last two 

 years. 



It is evident from these facts that these fish are being caught before 

 they have reached that size which would render them of the greatest 

 commercial value, and that some restriction should be placed upon the 

 fishery with a view to regulate this matter. 



At Melville the yellow cat or goujon was less common than at Morgan 

 City. Mr. Chamberlain saw only about a dozen examples, all of which 

 were ripe females. 



From the above tables it will be seen that we examined and made 

 notes upon 374 blue catfish, of which there were 227 females, 126 males, 

 and 21 indeterminate. Of the total 374, 32 were in full roe and ripe, 

 17 contained roe partially developed, 18 were immature, 50 indetermi- 

 nate, and 257 were spent fish. Omitting the 18 immature and the 50 

 indeterminate, we have 306 fish of which 257 (or 84 per cent) were spent 

 fish, 32 (or about 10 per cent) were ready to spawn, while 17 (or about 

 5£ per cent) were not quite ready for spawning. 



