233 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



any evidence of its occurrence in the Bay of Fundy, although I have 

 been informed that it has been taken well over toward the coast of ^^Tova 

 Scotia. 



The blue-fish is pre-eminently a pelagic or wandering fish, and like 

 many others, especially of the Scornhridw^ is apparently capricious in its 

 movements, varying in numbers at particular localities with the year, 

 and sometimes disappearing from certain regions for a large fraction of 

 a century, again to return as before. The cause of this variation it is 

 impossible to explain, being due in some instances, probably, to the dis- 

 appearance of its favorite food in consequence of its own voracity, or for 

 other undetermined reasons. 



They occur during the summer throughout the entire range indicated 

 for the United States, but aro much larger in size and in greatest abund- 

 ance from the coast of 'New Jersey northward. From New Jersey 

 osuthward, in the season mentioned, with the exception of an occasional 

 \vandering school, they are generally only about 8 to 1:^ inches in length, 

 representing, therefore, in all i3robability, individuals of the second years 

 growth. 



They appear to have a regular migration along our coast, presenting 

 themselves later and later in the spring the farther they are found to 

 the north, and disappearing in the inverse order from the same regions 

 in the autumn. First noticed on the Carolina coast as early as March 

 and April, immense schools of chem, bound eastward, are seen off the 

 coast of the Middle States, from the middle of May to the middle of 

 June 5 and in October similar bodies, perhaps embracing fewer individ- 

 uals, pass to the southward. It is possible, however, that in the autumn 

 some schools move well out to sea, and are, therefore, less likely to be 

 observed. Ttiey leave the northern coast about the middle of October, 

 and about the middle of November appear in vast numbers ofi' the coast 

 of North Carolina, where, from Nag's Head, in Currituck County, to 

 Cape Lookout, there is a very extensive fishery prosecuted, which fur- 

 nishes blue-fish for the northern markets. It is estimated that at least 

 one hundred and fifty crews are engaged in this fall fishing, which lasts 

 generally until late in December. At this time individuals may be 

 taken weighing 15 to 18 pounds, although their average size is about 10. 



Their occurrence in autumn, oft' the coast of North Carolina, is pre- 

 ceded and first indicated by the vast schools of menhaden, which they fol- 

 low in, several miles from the sea, and by the usual accompaniment of 

 flocks of gulls attending them to take a share in the feast. Of tlie par- 

 ticular mode of fishing in tliis neighborhood we shall take occasion to 

 speak hereafter. 



According to Dr. Yarrow, the blue-fish are first seen in spring on the 

 North Carolina coast, (the smaller ones first,) in March or April, when, 

 however, they are much less in size than the specimens referred to as 

 occurring in the fall. The precise time of their appearance at most of 

 the points farther north has not yet been ascertained. Whether they 

 actually migrate from south to north, and vice versa., or merely come in 

 from the outer seas in regular order, as is believed to be the case with 

 the shad, &c., has not been settled, although the former supposition 

 appears the more ])robable. They reach the New Jersey cOast some time 

 in the early ])art of May, and usually appear at Ne\v[)()rt and in Vine- 

 yard Sound (the time varying with the season) fiom the middle of May 

 to the first week in June. Tliey are expected at Edgartown from the 

 25th to the 3()th of May; but I am informed that, on their first arrival, 

 they feed at the bottom, and sometimes for a while are not seen at the 

 surface at all, seldom being taken with the hook, but caught in large 



