398 FOOD OF MARINE FISHES. 
White ee (Merone Americana) contained the same i in 
abun: e 
Wesk-tuh (Cynoscion regalis Gill), called “ Blue-fish” at that 
locality had its stomach filled with the same Crangon. : 
Kingfish ( Umbrina regalis), called “ Hake” on the New Jersey 1 
coast, contained nothing but Crangon vulgaris. ba 
Toad-fish or Oyster-fish (Batrachus tau). This fish is almost 
omnivorous. The stomach is large and usually distended with a a 
great variety of food. Young edible crabs (Callinectes hastatus 
Ordw.) up to two inches across, Orangon vulgaris, and the com- 
mon prawn (Palemon vulgaris Say), were the principal articles of 
diet at that locality ; but pipe-fishes (Syngnathus Peckianus) six in- i 
ches long, and the common black Nassa (Hyanassa obsoleta) were 
often found in their stomachs, as well as various young fishes. 
Among the latter were specimens of the Anchovy (Engraulis 
vittata). The toad-fish is, therefore, a fish that should not e 
encourage i 
The Shad (Alosa tyrannus Gill) contained large aunt a 
of fragments of small crustacea, chiefly a small shrimp-like species 
(Mysis Americanus Smith) which was also captured alive in tide- 
pools on the salt marsh. The shad from the mouth of the Con- 
necticut River, taken in May, contained the same, or another 
allied species of Mysis. Some of the shad also had fragments of 
eel-grass (perhaps accidental) mixed with the crustacean tay 
The “Hickory Shad” (Meletta Mattawocea), the young called 
“ Herring” at the locality, were also filled with comminuted crus- 
tacea, among which the common shrimp (Crangon vulgaris) ont 
recognized most commonly. 
The Moss-bunker or Menhaden (Brevoortia Menhaden Gill), 
‘invariably had its stomach and voluminous intestine filled with 
the soft, oozy mud, containing a large proportion of organic mat- 
ter, which abounds in the quiet part of this and all similar bays 
along the coast. This fish appears, therefore, to obtain its nutri- 
ment by swallowing the mud and digesting the organic particles 
contained in it,—a mode of feeding for which its complex di- 
gestive apparatus and toothless mouth are specially ada 
Many marine worms, bivalve mollusks, and echinoderms feed upon — 
the same kind of food, which is everywhere abundant. ‘The moss 
bunker is often infested by a large parasitic Lernean (Lérnocera 
radiata Les.) which buries its star-shaped head deeply in the flesh. 
