154 AMERICAN FISHES. 
‘« As already referred to, it must also be borne in mind that it is not 
merely the small fry that are thus devoured, and which it is expected will 
fall a prey to other animals, but that the food of the Bluefish consists very 
largely of individuals which have already passed a large percentage of the 
chances against their attaining maturity, many of them, indeed, having 
arrived at the period of spawning. ‘To make the case more clear, let us 
realize for a moment the number of Bluefish that exist on out coast in the 
summer season. As far as I can ascertain by the statistics obtained at the 
fishing stations on the New England coast, as also from the records of the 
New York markets, kindly furnished by Middleton & Carman, of the 
Fulten Market, the capture of Bluefish, from New Jersey to Monomoy, 
during the season, amounts to not less than one million individuals, 
averaging five or six pounds each. Those, however, who have seen the 
Bluefish in his native waters, and realized the immense number there exist- 
ing, will be quite willing to admit fhat probably not one fish in a thousand 
is ever taken by man. If, therefore, we have an actual capture of one 
million, we may allow one thousand millions as occurring in the extent 
of our coasts referred to, even neglecting the smaller ones, which, perhaps, 
should also be taken into the account. 
“« An allowance of ten fish per day to each Bluefish is not excessive, 
according to the testimony elicited from the fishermen and substantiated 
by the stomachs of those examined ; this gives ten thousand millions of 
fish destroyed per day. And as the period of the stay of the Bluefish on 
the New England coast is at least one hundred and twenty days, we have 
in round numbers twelve hundred million millions of fish devoured in the 
course of a season. Again, if each Bluefish, averaging five pounds, 
devours or destroys even half its own weight of other fish per day (and I 
am not sure that the estimate of some witnesses of twice this weight is not 
more nearly correct), we will have, during the same period, a daily loss of 
twenty-five hundred million pounds, equal to three hundred thousand mil- 
lions for the season. 
“¢ This estimate applies to three or four year old fish, of at least three to 
five pounds in weight. We must, however, allow for those of smaller size, 
and a hundred-fold or more in number, all engaged simultaneously in the 
butchery referred to. 
‘«We can scarcely conceive of a number so vast ; and however much we 
may diminish, within reason, the estimate of the number of Bluefish and 
