REPORT OF DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1900 r217 



3 Brevoortia tyrannus Gill 



Menhaden 



Great schools of menhaden appear along the shore late in 

 the season. The fishermen off Staten Island put them up for 

 lobster bait. Early in June the young menhaden about 4 cen- 

 timeters long were taken in inlets on the south shore and at the 

 end of July they were 6 centimeters long and at the end of 

 August 7.8 centimeters long. 



The food of the menhaden examined proved to be mostly 

 copepods. 



During the first part of the summer the young shad, blueflsh 

 and menhaden closely resemble each other so that it would 

 seem that an enemy to one would be dangerous to all. Their 

 habitat is somewhat different, the young shad living at the head 

 of fresh-water streams and the menhaden and blueflsh seeking 

 the heads of inlets and harbors. 



4 Cynoscion regale B. & S. 



WeaJcfish 

 This fish is called the squeteague on the New England coast. 

 Early in June quite a number were being taken in the seines 

 in the mouths of the inlets off Freeport. At Bayshore on the 

 Great South bay, there are a number of pound fishermen, at 

 Islip two and at Great Kiver one, and the principal part of their 

 catch is weakfish.^ About the middle of July one pound fisher- 

 man off Islip estimated that he had 1200 barrels of fish in his 

 storage pound in the bay. These he sent in to market on certain 

 days in the week. The reproductive organs in the weakfish were 

 quite matured. The fishermen believe that at the west end 

 of Great South bay, the fish in their course along the coast 

 stop to spawn. None of the young fish were seen, however. 

 From their presence in the bay in such great numbers in June 

 and July and from the condition of the reproductive organs it 

 is reasonable to conclude that their spawning grounds are in 

 this neighborhood. 



^Pounds exist in greater number on the south side of the bay in the 

 vicinity of Clam Pond cove and a great trap is located in the ocean at Fire 

 Island inlet. 



