ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



134.1 



mouths and sides of the grunts. They would 

 look into the mouths of the larger fishes, pick 

 once or twice, and then carefully scrutinizing 

 the sides of the fish, would continue picking, 

 going from fish to fish until their appetites 

 seemed satisfied or there were no more parasites. 



The green moray is particularly friendl}^ 

 toward the four-eyes and will become very ac- 

 tive in their presence. Continuing the experi- 

 ments, different fishes were placed with chae- 

 todons which had just been caught, to make 

 sure that mere association had nothing to do 

 with their fearlessness. I never observed friend- 

 ly relations between parrotfishes and the chae- 

 todons. Among the reefs as well as in the 

 Aquarium tanks the chaetodons always seemed 

 uneasy in the presence of parrotfishes. An- 

 other fish toward which they show the greatest 

 antagonism is the little bean gregory (Eupo- 

 macentrus^ , but this is not so difficult to under- 

 stand as both feed on similar foods. Two other 

 species of four-eyes, Chaetodon ocellatus and 

 Chaetodon striatus, are quite frequently seen 

 and obtained on the reefs, but they are by no 

 means as common as Chaetodon capistratiis. 



I have never noticed any species but the lat- 

 ter removing and feeding on the parasites cling- 

 ing to other fishes, excepting a much larger fish, 

 the blue angelfish. 



THE MATTAKESSETT ALEWIFE 



FISHERY.* 



By Roy Stanley Corwin, 



Children's Museum, Brooklyn Institute. 



TO such an extent have the alewife fisheries 

 of the Atlantic Coast become depleted or 

 destroyed, that one would scarcely expect 

 to find at the present time a fishing company 

 doing a lucrative business in these fishes. Such 



*The alewife, sometimes called river herring or 

 wall-eyed herring, is found all along our coast, ar- 

 riving in New York waters with the shad. Formerly 

 occurring in great nmnbers in the New England 

 states, and of great commercial importance, it is now 

 comparatively scarce. 



The decline of the alewife fishery to not more than 

 a quarter of its former importance is a matter of 

 serious concern. The causes are over-fishing, dams 

 and other obstructions to its passage into the streams 

 where it spawns, and pollution of the waters. Mr. 

 Corwin's contribution on the alewife is timely and 

 interesting. — The Director of the Aquarium. 



MATTAKRSSETT CREEK 

 An artificial waterway for alewives 



is the case, however, for at Edgartown, Martha's 

 Vineyard, is located an aggregation of fisher- 

 men, incorporated under the name Proprietors 

 of Mattakessett Creeks, who through systematic 

 operation of an alewife fishery, derive from it 

 several thousands of dollars annually. 



It may be well to point out the alewife spe- 

 cifically. This fish belongs to the family Clu- 

 peidae or Herrings and to the genus Pomolobus. 

 The alewife or branch herring is Pomolobus 

 pseudoharengus (Wilson). The name refers to 

 its deep, rounded belly. It is a deep-water spe- 

 cies, inhabiting salt water all of its life, except 

 when it ascends rivers to spawn in the fresh 

 head-waters. The alewife spawns in the spring, 

 generally late in March or early in April, and 

 continuing through May. It is believed to ma- 

 ture in four years and to return for the purpose 

 of spawning to the same stream in which it 

 began its existence. Almost nothing is known 

 of the habits or migrations of the alewife from 

 the time it is spawned until as a mature fish 

 about eleven inches long, it returns to perform 

 the function of reproduction. 



The Mattakessett Fishery is interesting in 

 tliat the stream by which alewives ascend to 

 fresh water is artificial instead of being a nat- 

 ural river or stream. Running parallel to the 

 ocean shore and one- eighth of a mile from the 

 beach, it connects a large body of fresh water, 

 the Edgartown Great Pond, with Katama Bay; 

 a sheltered portion of Edgartown Harbor. It 

 is the third such stream created to make possible 



