70 Catalogue of the Fishes of Connecticut. 



*104. Clnpea virescens, Dekay, Green Back, Stratford. 

 105. Alosa vernalis, Mitchill, Alewife, common. 

 *106. Alosa sapidi-sima, Wilson, Shad, common, 

 *107. Alosa menhaden, Mitchill, Whitefish, common. 

 *108. Alosa mattowacca, Mitchill, Autumnal Herring, Housa- 

 tonic. 



t Stratford. 



Order III. Jugular. 

 Family Gadidce. 



109. Morrhua Americana, Storer, Codfish, Stonington. 



110. Morrhua asglefinus, Linn., Haddock, Stonington. 



*104. This fish is taken here by hundreds every autumn in seines, and usually 

 sold at a cent apiece, under the popular name of green-hacks. They were for a 

 length of time a perplexity to me on account of their near alliance to the alewife. 

 I was induced finally to consider them the young of that species. But on eating 

 them I found them much less bony, and usually about half the size of that fish. 

 Dr. Dekay's name, figure and description removed my doubts, and were very satis- 

 factory. His plate 13 exhibits a good figure of each species. 



*J06. Although our commore shad has had several specific names, as ZJM/^ari^, 

 indigena, alosa, and lastly. Dr. Dekay has instituted the name of prastabilis, it is 

 believed the above name, sapidissima, has the priority, as first given to this valua- 

 ble fish. (See Clupea sapidissima, in Rees' Encyclopcedia.) Dr. Dekay remarks, 

 that he is " not able to state whether the shad is found farther north than the coast 

 of New Hampshire ;" to which I would subjoin, that the largest shad I have ever 

 seen were taken in Maine. I saw one selected from several hundreds of very 

 large size, which weighed 10 pounds. This was on the Kennebec river, in 1812. 

 They were then selling for four cents each, and dull at that. They extend abund- 

 antly through our whole eastern coast, as I have subsequently witnessed. 



*107. The menhaden or white-fish, are caught in most incredible namhers, nearly 

 the whole length of our Sound, and are sold for manure at seventy-five cents to 

 one dollar a thousand. They are, however, vastly more abundant east of this 

 town than west, and for a few years past have been much less abundant than for- 

 merly. Poor, or quite ordinary soil, by the application of ten thousand fish to the 

 acre, will, with suitable cultivation, produce the finest crop of wheat. 



*108. These fish were caught in considerable numbers in this place last June, at 

 the winding up of the shad fishery. And at East Haven, two hundred were ta- 

 ken at one haul of a seine. They are considered " new comers." The weight 

 was about 2 pounds. The popular name was, " a new species of shad." Dr. De- 

 kay states, " they are called weiseck in the Connecticut river." 



t Alosa sardina of Dekay, Clupea sardina of Mitchill, is figured and described 

 by the former as a distinct species. It is caught in great numbers in this town by 

 seines, from June to October; and unless I am greatly mistaken, is nothing more 

 than the young of our shad, {A. sapidissima.) His radial formula is not more dis- 

 similar than what occurs in almost all fishes of the same species. The want of cau- 

 dal pouches would evidently be supplied by age, as our largest shad always present 

 the fullest. His diversity of length, from 6 to 12 inches, serves to confirm the 

 opinion of its being a young shad. 



