HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 335 



longitudinal lines extend from the opercnliini to tlie tail These lines are miich more 

 clearly seen when the fish is looked at from either extremity, the eye being placed on a 

 line with the fish. The opercula are cupreons, and marked by numerous resselsj which 

 give them a beautiful arborescent appearance. 



Description. Body elongated, compressed. The head is about one sixth the whole 

 length of the fish ; the depth of the fish at the origin of the dorsal fin is rather less than 

 one fourth its entire length. Eyes large ; their diameter equal to one fourth the length 

 of the head. Pupils black, irides silvery. Mouth very large. Tlie upper jaw notched 

 at its centre ; the lower jaw slightly the longer ; the intermaxillaries very protractile. 

 Jaws edentate. Nostrils large, situated just back of the snouts Back of the posterior 

 angle of the operculum, upon the shoulder, is a deep black blotch. The scales are very 

 large and deciduous, marked with concentric strice. The entire abdominal edge is 

 strongly serrated with projecting bony spines ; these serrations are larger back of the 

 ventrals, between them and the anus. 



The dorsal fin is quadrangular, slightly longer than high. 



Height of the pectorals a little greater than the length of the dorsal fin. 



The ventrals are very small. 



The anal fin is low, slightly emargmated, and equal in length to the dorsal fin. 



The caudal fin is deeply forked. 



The fin rays are as follows : — D. 18. P. 15. V. 9. A. 18. C. 21. 



Length, eight to twelve inches. Weight, about half a pound. 



Remarks. In several portions of the State, where the alewife was formerly most 

 abundant, the various encroachments of man have sensibly diminished its numbers ; it 

 is still, however, in some places taken in immense quantities. In Taunton, the fishermen 

 commence taking it the last of March or the first of April, and continue to take it until 

 the middle or the last of May, at which time it has so much diminished in numbers, 

 and has become so inferior in its quality, that the business is not a lucrative one. The 

 last of the run are of a very small size, and are called " Black-bellies." 



At Watertown, the average quantity of alewives taken, for the two years preceding 

 1839, was seven hundred barrels. 



They are first pickled, then salted and barrelled, and sent to the West Indies. They 

 sell for from ^1.50 to ^2 per barrel. At Taunton, whicli was at onetime so cele- 

 brated for its fishery, the alewives are gradually lessening. Forty years since, they 

 were taken in such abundance at Taunton that they sold for twenty cents per hundred, 

 and a great business was carried on in barrelling and shipping them to the West Indian 

 market. At the present time, when first taken, they sell for one dollar per hundred ; 



