968 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



docks, and that on <one occasion he lifted an 

 old leather boot from the bottom and found it 

 to be the winter quarters of two young black- 

 fish, each about five inches in length. 



The young fish do not seem to be affected by 

 the temperature as readily as the adults and re- 

 main active after the larger ones have become 

 dormant. Mr. DeNyse states further that on 

 one occasion in Gravesend Bay a sudden fall 

 of temperature, before the usual time for hiber- 

 nation, so chilled the large individuals in shal- 

 low water that they were numbed and stiffened 

 by the cold and were washed ashore in large 

 numbers where they were gathered up. Be- 

 sides those eaten by the collectors several hun- 

 dred pounds of these fish were marketed. 



In the Aquarium the blackfish are very hardy 

 and easily kept and have lived for several years 

 in confinement. Young specimens make very 

 attractive fishes for the balanced salt-water 

 aquarium. They are slow in growth. 



The Cunner or Bergall (Tautogalabrus 

 adspersus. Walbaum) : If the opinion of the av- 

 erage salt-water angler were asked as to the 

 merits of this fish, his remarks, or a portion 

 of them at least, would probably be unprintable. 

 The cunner is a fish that is always in the way 

 when you wish to catch something else. He is 

 a perfectly good food-fish when he gets big 

 enough to find after being dressed, but he seems 

 to take a fiendish delight in getting just big 

 enough to steal all the bait and to stop grow- 

 ing at that point. It is said that off the reefs 

 about Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket the}' 

 sometimes reach a weight of two and a half 

 pounds, but in places where they can make 

 nuisances of themselves they seldom seem to get 

 larger than a quarter of a pound. 



But while the cunner is gall and wormwood 



A YOUNG CUNNER 



to the angler in pursuit of either meat or sport, 

 he is an everlasting joy to the youthful heart. 

 He will bite at anything and under all circum- 

 stances and the way a three-inch specimen will 

 take out a boy's line affords the youthful fisher- 

 man no end of excitement. He is to the young 

 salt-water angler what the bullhead, shiner and 

 yellow perch, all rolled into one, are to the 

 inland boy. 



As with most common fishes a great many 

 local names are applied. Besides cunner and 

 bergall, which are most widely used, he is 

 known as the bengall, gall, chogsett, perch, sea- 

 perch, blue-perch, nipper and baitstealer, the 

 last two as a reward for his propensity in mak- 

 ing away with the bait. While the name "gall" is 

 evidently a contraction of bergall it is striking- 

 ly applicable to the character of the fish. 



The colors of the cunner are quite variable, 

 though bluish and brownish predominate. 

 There is usually a brassy reflection on the sides 

 and spots of brassy often appear on the head 

 and back. The young vary in color more than 

 the adults and sometimes are nearly all yellow- 

 ish, greenish or brownish, but, as a rule, dusky 

 or black bands and spots of varying size and 

 distribution are present, and there is a black 

 spot on the anterior part of the dorsal fin. 

 The color variations have led to the descrip- 

 tion of a number of supposed species, but sub- 

 sequent study has shown that these intergrade 

 in all directions. 



The bergall does not seem to hibernate in 

 winter as does his relative the tautog. As a 

 result many of them are frozen during extreme- 

 ly cold weather. However, it can scarcely be 

 the degree of cold, but the amount of local 

 change in temperature that effects them in such 

 cases for the species is distributed commonly 

 as far north as Labrador. 



The eggs of the cunner, 

 like those of the tautog, are 

 extremely small, less than a 

 millimeter in diameter. They 

 float at the surface and 

 hatch out quickly, in five 

 days, at a temperature of 56 

 degrees. Spawning takes 

 place in June (farther north 

 in July) and though the 

 young are only one-twelfth 

 of an inch long at hatching. 



