FISH-SCRAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 11 
water lying oceanward, appears more plausible. An exploration of 
ocean temperatures has shown that there are strata lying offshore and 
at a depth of 50 to 100 fathoms whose temperature is about 50° to 
55° F. It is suggested that the fish swimming oceanward at the 
beginning of cold weather, and being driven downward by the 
chilled surface water, strike the warm strata and are held there dur- 
ing the winter by the surrounding barriers of colder strata. In the 
spring, with the removal of these barriers, they swim shoreward 
again to their accustomed feeding grounds. This accounts, further- 
more, for their prompt appearance offshore as soon as the water there 
reaches a temperature of 50° F. Their emaciated condition in the 
spring would show the scarcity of food in the region of their winter's 
stay. Indeed, they are so " thin " that a thousand spring fish 
frequently yields only a half gallon of oil as compared with 10 to 15 
gallons of oil produced by an equal number of fall fish. 1 
HABITS. 
The menhaden swim in schools made up almost always of large 
numbers. Schools have been reported 20 miles in length, but this 
size is exceptional. The fish in the schools are densely massed, not 
only side by side but one above the other. They produce a rippling 
in the water which is discoverable at a distance and which betrays 
the presence of the schools to the fishermen. Their location is indi- 
cated also by flocks of gulls which follow the schools. 
The schools frequent the larger bays and inlets such as Chesapea'ke 
and Delaware Bays and Long Island Sound; these and other similar 
waters formerly constituted the main fishing grounds. But they are 
found also in deeper waters opposite the entrances to bays and sounds 
and off promontories. Thirty years ago it was their habit also to 
ascend rivers as far as the brackish water would permit. This they 
no longer do to a conspicuous degree. While they are not so much in 
evidence perhaps near the shore, there is no evidence that they are 
decreasing in numbers. They appear to be the most numerous fish 
on the Atlantic coast. The maintenance of the catch year after year, 
however, can not be taken as proof that the menhaden is not decrease 
ing in numbers, unless it be shown that the maintenance of the catch 
is not the result of increased skill in fishing. 
FOOD. 
The examination of the stomach contents of a large number of men- 
haden at various times and from numerous localities has revealed 
only large quantities of dark material, resembling the silt such as is 
found on the bottom in sheltered and quiet water near river mouths. 
1 " Occasionally fat fish are taken in the spring, indicating that food is not always 
absent from the winter abode of the menhaden." Kendall, Bureau of Fisheries. Private 
communication. 
