FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 4OI 



This fish is reared in large numbers at the Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, the 

 Southside Sportsmen's Club, and elsewhere on Long Island. Few of the natural 

 brook trout streams of Long Island now furnish good trout fishing, except those 

 which have been restocked. 



Family ARGENT INIDiE. Smelts. 



68. Smelt ; Ice Fish {Osmerus mordax Mitchill). 



The Smelt, writes DeKay, is obtained chiefly from the small streams emptying 

 into Long Island Sound, and from the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. The name 

 of Smelt, according to him, is derived from its peculiar smell, which resembles that 

 of cucumbers. 



It is found in Gravesend Bay in winter, beginning to run in December and 

 remaining during the cold weather. In the spring it ascends rivers to spawn. The 

 eggs are small and adhesive. The fry are hardy in transportation. The food of 

 the fish consists of shrimps and other small crustaceans. 



The Smelt was not seen by us at any time during the summer and early fall in 

 Great South Bay. 



Order INIOML 



Family SYNODONTIDiE. The Lizard Fishes. 



69. Lizard Fish {Sy nodus fozt ens Linnaeus). 



The Lizard Fish, called Sand Pike by some authors, is the Trout Pike of 

 Mitchill. It is also known as Snake Fish, Segar Fish and Spear Fish. DeKay 

 apparently did not know the fish. Mitchill's examples, from the head of New York 

 Bay, were from 8 to 9 inches long. It was very common everywhere in Great 

 South Bay in 1890, but was almost entirely absent in 1898, only a single example 

 having been secured. 



It ranges northward to Cape Cod and south to Brazil. In Great Egg Harbor 

 Bay it is a very common fish, 4Dut is unknown to the fishermen. At Woods Hole, 

 Mass., it was first noted in 1885, since which time it has been taken nearly every 

 year in September on the beach inside of Nobska Point. It is very common from 

 South Carolina southward on sandy coasts. It is not valued as food. It grows to 

 the length of 12 inches. 

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