134 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



ing; eye contained 3.5 times in length of head; gill-rakers .66 length of eye; scales in lateral series 

 40; dorsal rays 15; anal rays 20. Color: back olivaceous, sides and belly silvery; a distinct 

 lateral silvery band about width of eye. (Named for Patrick Brown, who in 1756 published a 

 History of Jamaica.) 



This species of anchovy, which occurs in abundance from Massachusetts to 

 Brazil, is very common in the Beaufort region; it enters the harbor, where nu- 

 merous specimens have been seined in summer, but the largest schools remain out- 

 side. On April 23, 1904, the author seined several specimens at Fort Beach and 

 Bird Shoal. The fish is too small to attract the special notice of the local fisher- 

 men, who know it only under the indefinite name of "bait"; Dr. Yarrow, in his 

 Beaufort list, reported it as "smelt". The appearance of schools of "bait" is 

 welcomed by the fishermen as heralding the approach of Spanish mackerel and 

 blue-fish, which feed on them extensively. 



Anchovies are more important as food for other fishes than as food for man, 

 and are but little utilized on the Atlantic coast of the United States. In France, 

 Japan, and other countries, however, they are canned after the manner of sar- 

 dines and are preserved in various other ways. In North Carolina they exist in 

 suflScient abundance to support a canning industry, and ought to meet with a 

 good sale if carefully preserved in oil and put on the market as anchovies. 



114. ANOHOVIA MITOHILLI (Ouvier & Valenciennes). 

 Anchovy. 



EngravXis mitchiUi Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xxi, 50, 1848; New York; Carolina; 



Lake Pontchartraln, La, 

 Stolephorua mitchUli, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 446. 



Diagnosis. — ^Body not very elongate, strongly compressed, depth .25 total length; head 

 short, blunt, its length contained 3.75 times in total length; snout very short, about equal to 

 pupil; maxillary extending nearly to gill-opening; eye very large, .33 length of head; scales 

 thin, deciduous, 37 in lateral series; dorsal rays 12 to 14; anal rays 25 to 28; pectorals reaching 

 ventrals. Color: silvery with dark dots; a narrow silvery lateral band; fins yellowish. (Named 

 after Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, U. S. senator from New York and author of various papers on 

 American fishes.) 



Ranges along the entire Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Texas, occur- 

 ring in schools on sandy shores and in the bays and sounds. There appears to be 

 no published North Carolina record of the species, but it is doubtless an abun- 

 dant form in that state as it is elsewhere throughout its range. A number of 

 specimens were collected at Morehead City on February 21, 1891, by Dr. W. C. 

 Kendall, of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. It rarely exceeds 3 inches in length 

 and averages less. 



Family SALMON! D^. The Salmons, Trouts, and White-fishes. 

 A very numerous and important family of fresh-water and anadromous 

 fishes restricted to the more northern parts of the world. Although well repre- 

 sented in America, there is only a single native salmonid of North Carolina, the 

 celebrated brook trout; the rainbow trout, however, has become so successfully 

 established that it must now be considered among the fishes of the state. 



