BLUEFISH IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. 443 



Blaefish of all sizes may be seen at this time, the smaller ones measuring in length three to five 

 inches, the intermediate sizes ten, twelve, and fifteen inches, and the large ones from the last-men- 

 tioned size to a size weighing fifteen or eighteen pounds. Ten pounds is not an unusual weight 

 for large Blueflsh, but those of eighteen pounds are rare. Bluefish are said to be more abundant 

 on this coast than formerly, and any change in the last five years has tended to an increasse rather 

 than a decrease. It is au exceedingly ^'oraL•ious fish, preying upon any kind of fish through which 

 its teeth can cut and which its jaws can surround. I think its migratory movement on this coast 

 is caused more on account of its food becoming scarcer in cold weather than on account of its 

 being influenced by the change of the temperature of the water, for on the coldest days of the year 

 (in December) Bluefish are sometimes caught in shoal water in great abundance as well as at any 

 other time. The Bluefish is one of the choicest food-fishes of this coast, and is much used, both 

 fresh and salted." 



Eakll on the Bluefish in Noeth Carolina. — Below is given an outline of the winter 

 Bluefish fisheries of the Southern coast as gathered from notes made during the visit of Mr. E. E. 

 Earll to that region : 



The large fish are taken in two localities — first, a few miles off Cape May, and again on the 

 Carolina coast between Cape Henry and Ocracoke Inlet. They are most abundant between Cape 

 Hatteras and New Inlet. Small fish frequently enter the sounds during the summer months, and 

 have long been taken by the residents. The larger ones seldom enter the inlets, but remain near 

 the outer shore, where they feed upon the menhaden, shad, and alewives, during the season of their 

 migrations to and from the larger sounds in fall and spring. 



Apijarently, the first that was known of the presence of large Bluefish in this region was in 

 1842, when a quantity was taken in a haul-seine near Ifew Inlet. GUI-nets were first used for the 

 capture of the species in this locality in 1847, though they were not generally adopted till several 

 years later. The first vessel visited the region in 1866, and from that date to 1879 six to twelve 

 sail came regularly to the locality. The fishery reached its height between 1870 and 1876, when in 

 addition to the vessels fully one hundred crews of five men each fished along the shores. The 

 catch varies greatly from time to time, as the fish are constantly on the move and often go beyond 

 reach of the seines and gill-nets. Some seasons each boat's crew has averaged four or five thou- 

 sand fish weighing ten to fifteen pounds each, and again they have taken almost nothing. Fre- 

 quently the bulk of the catch of an entire season is taken in three or four days. 



Since the winter of 1877 and 1878 the fish are said to have been much less abundant and of 

 smaller size. In the winter of 1879 and 1880 about seventy-five crews were engaged in the fishery 

 from the first of I^ovember till Christmas. The total catch did not exceed fifty thousand fish 

 averaging six pounds each. The small number taken is partially accounted for by the fact that 

 many of the fish were so small as to readily pass through the meshes without being caught. 



During my visit in May, 1880, large schools of Blueflsh were reported along the shore, and a 

 considerable number of shad and other species were found upon the beach where they had been 

 driven by their pursuers. A good many Bluefish were also stranded while in pursuit of their prey. 

 It seemed that there is no reason to believe that the fish have permanently left the coast, or that 

 they are even so scarce as is at present claimed, for the men have fished with little regularity, and 

 have gone only a short distance from the shore, while the bulk of the Blueflsh may have been 

 farther out. 



Uses. — This is one of the most important of our food-flshes, and surpassed in public estima- 

 tion only by the Spanish mackerel and the pompano. It may be said to furnish a large part of 

 the supply to the middle and Northern States. It is a standard fish in New York, Boston, and 



