SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 173 
NOTE ON THE AMERICAN SHAD. 
(R. L. ASCROFT.) 
The American Shad (Clupea sapidissima) which is 
nearly allied to our Shad (C. alosa), but has no markings 
on the back, is a native of the rivers of the Eastern States 
and part of Canada. It is found from eastern Florida to 
the entrance of the gulf of St. Lawrence. 
It is a fish of the herring tribe, but of far larger growth, 
reaching a weight of eight pounds, and an average of four 
pounds each. When the spawning fish are approaching 
maturity, and the temperature of the river waters have 
reached 60° F.., they migrate up the streams. If a freshet 
caused by warm rains exists in a river it is followed by a 
rush upward of many fish at the same time; but if the 
rise in the temperature is slow, the fish come in small 
numbers at a time. If the waters on the flats, at the 
side of a stream, are warmer than those in the main 
channel, the fish will keep in the warmer waters. 
They mostly choose for spawning places sandy shores 
or bars of sand, and during spawning a pair of fish swim 
along together at the surface, the female emitting her 
spawn and the male his milt. The fishermen on the 
Potomac, at Washington, D.C., call it ‘‘washing.’”’ The 
time is between sunset and 11 p.m. The number of eggs 
averages 25,000 per fish, but sometimes a female has given 
100,000. The eggs take from three to six days to hatch out, 
and the young, although incumbered with a larger yolk sac 
than young salmon, are, unlike them, quick, active, little 
fish. The fry stay about six months in the river, growing | 
to 23 to 33 mches in length, migrating to the sea when 
the temperature falls below 60° F. 
Their food consists almost entirely of Crustaceans, such 
as Copepoda, and as they grow they do not despise any 
