NATURAL HISTORY OF IMPORTANT FOOD-FISHES. 229 



According to Captain Edwards, of Wood's Hole, in proceeding to 

 their breeding-grounds, on the coast of New England, they are taken at 

 Montauk Point three weeks earlier than at Wood's Hole, and a week 

 earlier at Wood's Hole than at Hyannis, still farther east. 



The scup feed upon a great variety of marine animals, such as worms, 

 small crustaceans, mollusks, &c, and fake the hook very freely during 

 the greater part of their stay ; in fact, the smaller ones become veritable 

 nuisances to the fishermen, from the readiness with which they pounce 

 upon the baited hook whenever thrown overboard. 



The flesh of the scup is very much prized by most persons, as it is 

 firm and flaky, and usually sweet, although occasionally a bitter flavor 

 detracts from its palatability. Since the settlement of the coast by the 

 whites, it has been by far the most important food-fish of Fisher and 

 Vineyard Sounds, Narragansett Bay, and of Buzzard's Bay; and the 

 rapid diminution in number has caused the greatest solicitude. 



The scup is but little known, as far as accounts go, on the north side 

 of Cape Cod ; indeed, Dr. Storer states that they were introduced into 

 Massachusetts Bay about 1833, and that they are taken only occasion- 

 ally at the present date. Of their abundance on the south coast of New 

 England in former times, almost incredible accounts are given. Thus, 

 according to J. D. Swan, of Newport, at one place in Narragansett Bay, 

 where the schools ran over a point where the water was 9 feet deep, they 

 were so thick as to crowd each other out of the water. (See page 12 of 

 the present report.) Mr. E. E. Taylor could catch five hundred fish in 

 the morning and return in time to peddle them off in Newport, and then 

 go out in the afternoon and get as many more. (Page 27.) Six hundred 

 barrels have been taken at one haul of the seine at Tuckernuck, near 

 Nantucket. (Page 40.) Captain Hallett has taken in one morning eight 

 hundred scup, weighing 500 or 600 pounds, and eighteen boats have 

 loaded a smack in a single day, (page 18.) Mr. Ryder, at the head of 

 Buttermilk Bay, which opens out of Buzzard's Bay, twenty years ago 

 could catch three boat-loads in a tide. In 1861, at Seconnet, 700 barrels 

 were turned out of the traps because there was no sale for them. A 

 subsequent capture netted only 18 cents a barrel. 



The testimony of residents along the coast all tends to show that, 

 until within not more than eight or ten years, scup, of large size, could 

 be taken with a hook throughout the summer, at any point near the 

 shore, from Point Judith to Cape Cod, almost as rapidly as a line with 

 two baited hooks could be thrown over and hauled in. 



The case, however, at the present date, is very different. Large num- 

 bers, it is true, are caught in traps and pounds for a few days in the 

 spring, as the fish are on their way to their spawning-ground 5 alter which 

 only scattering individuals are taken in nets, and so few by lines as to 

 remove them entirely out of the speculations of the fishermen, except, 

 perhaps, on the coasts of New York and New Jersey. 



In 1871 the diminution, even as compared with that of 1870, was very 

 evident in most localities; Captain Hallett,. of Hyannis, stating that 

 not one-fourth as many were taken as in the previous year. (Page 48.) 



The scup is a fish that grows with rapidity, and at two years is almost 

 of sufficient size to be marketable. Throughout the summer young fish 

 of the spring spawning are to be seen floating around in the eel-grass 

 and over the sandy bottoms, having attained a length of from 2£ to 3J 

 inches by the 1st of October. When these fish re-appear the next sea- 

 son, thus completing one year of existence, they measure about 6 inches, 

 six to eight or nine weighing a pound; and by the 1st of September at- 

 tain an average length of 8 inches, including the tail, and a breadth of 



