FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 417 



Group AMMODYTOIDEI. 

 Family AMMODYTID^. Sand Launces. 

 105. Sand Launce {Aniuiodytcs aniericanits DeKay). 



The Sand Launce is called the American Sand Launce by DeKay. Mitchill also 

 knew this fish but he considered it to be identical with the common European 

 Sand Launce. DeKay states that the young of this fish are frequently washed 

 ashore after heavy northerly gales in Queens County. The Banded Sand Launce 

 of DeKay, which is now believed to be an injured individual of the common Sand 

 Launce, was seen by DeKay near Sag Harbor, Long Island. 



This fish appears in Gravesend Bay in July, but is more plentiful in winter. It 

 buries itself in sand and sometimes when alarmed it will spring 4 inches above the 

 sand. It is a favorite food of the fluke. 



Ayres gives the following interesting account of the fish : 



" Extremely abundant in the sound during the early summer months. Present 

 from the first of May to the first of November. For some months it forms the 

 chief food of bluefish and striped bass, and is also eaten largely by eels, flatfish, 

 gurnards, and the cuttlefish. The terns derive their chief and probably their sole 

 support from the sand launces during the two months that they remain before 

 proceeding north to rear their young." Ayres, in pushing his boat along the shoal 

 creeks of the harbor, found that each thrust of his pole would send these fish 

 darting forth from their hiding places in the sand, so that where none were to be 

 seen before the water would become suddenly alive with them. They would 

 usually spring rapidly forward for a few yards or rods, and in an instant disappear 

 in the sand. They may be noticed also in companies of all numbers, from 100 to 

 several thousands, swimming slowly backwards and forwards in the grass. In 

 passing over a favorable spot of sand two or three will be seen separating from 

 the main body and inclining generally downward, as if selecting a spot for entrance. 

 When near the bottom they dart forward, and, striking the sand head foremost, 

 disappear instantly. Sometimes, when the sand is harder, the impetus of their 

 plunge buries little more than their head, and their body is then forced in with a 

 waving motion, only about 2 seconds being occasionally consumed in effecting an 

 entrance. Ayres often noticed large bodies of them swimming quietly suddenly 

 strike upwards as if at some object in the water, and probably taking some one of 

 the insects which constitute the chief portion of their food. The largest specimens 

 Ayres saw were not quite 5 inches long. 

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