REPORT OF DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1900 r215 



NOTES ON MARINE FOOD FISHES OF LONG ISLAND 



1 Alosa sapidissima Wie. 

 Shad 



Shad do not appear on the south side of Long Island on 

 account of the absence of suitable spawning grounds. In the 

 spring occasionally a shad enters Cold Spring Harbor to spawn. 

 The state hatchery has, however, recently stocked theNissequoge 

 river at Smithtown, 20 miles east of Cold Spring Harbor. This 

 stream was apparently a good natural spawning ground, as even 

 before stocking, a few shad entered the river 6very spring. Since 

 the river has been stocked, the shad enter it in great numbers, 

 appearing in the early part of April. At that time, though few 

 large shad may be seen in the daytime, they appear in great 

 numbers about dusk. Gathering in greatest number near the 

 head of the stream, they return to the sea later in the evening. 



The young shad live at the head waters till the first frosty 

 nights in the fall, feeding on aquatic insects and larvae, a food 

 quite similar to that of the trout. In the fall the food becomes 

 scarce and the temperature of the water falls so that the young 

 shad leave for the deeper salt waters outside, where food and 

 temperature conditions are better. 



Some of the young shad get into the trout ponds and flourish 

 there, remaining till too large to escape through the gates. On 

 July 11, a number taken measured 5 centimeters in length, while 

 in the fall they are nearly three times this length. Seining with 

 a fine meshed seine in the river resulted in finding none of them. 



An examination of 30 shad roes at Fulton market on April 24 

 showed that the smallest weighed 9 ounces and the largest 14 

 ounces, the average being 10.7 ounces. In the shad at this time 

 the eggs were easily extruded by pressure. A shad weighing 5 

 pounds had a roe of 10 ounce weight and one weighing 4^ pounds 

 had a roe of nearly 11 ounces weight and this is found to be the 

 condition at maturity. The testes of shad are less in propor- 

 tion to the weight of the male than the roe to the weight of the 

 female. 



