72 
FOREST AND STREAM 
February, 1921 
THE MIGRATIONS OF MARINE FISHES 
THE VAST OCEAN STILL SHROUDS IN [MYSTERY THE COMING 
AND GOING OF ITS FISHES, EVEN ALONG WELL-KNOWN SHORES 
T HE migration, of marine fishes is an 
involved subject difficult to study 
and not at all thoroughly under- 
stood. As far as is known, their mi- 
gration resolves itself into three types 
or may be a combination of any of the 
three. First, there is movement north 
or south or along some coastline; sec- 
ond, there may be movement to and from 
the coast; third, the fish may migrate 
down into the ocean’s depths or up to 
the surface. 
Certain northern fishes occurring at 
the surface and coastwise extend south- 
ward at greater depths into lower lat- 
itudes; for example, the angler (Lo- 
phius piscatorious) . The angler is ab- 
sent from the shores of Long Island, 
New York, during the summer months 
and of common occurrence there in 
winter. We have seen a large speci- 
men taken in late fall from the Hud- 
son River at New York City. Further 
north this species occurs coastwise 
throughout the year. The probabilities 
are that it comes to our shores from 
deeper water close by, not from consid- 
erable distances further north. 
On the other hand, certain fishes 
which are common on Long Island 
shores only in summer, may be found 
late in the fall widely scattered further 
out under twenty-five fathoms or so, 
after they have left inshore localities. 
Such are the summer flounder ( Para - 
lichthys dentatus) and the common sea 
robin ( Prionotus carolinus). There is 
insufficient data to show whether they 
are ‘present here in moderately deep 
water throughout the winter, and the 
chances are that they have at least 
some southward movement along the 
coast. It should be borne in mind, 
however, that by merely moving off- 
shore such species would have a larger 
territory in which to spread. This 
factor combined with their not being 
very active fish would make them in- 
conspicuous and easily overlooked. 
Certain fishes have a well marked 
daily movement up and down. The 
lantern fishes which were at one time 
supposed to be found only in the inter- 
mediate depths of the ocean come to 
the surface at night. It is probable 
also that certain fishes come up to the 
shore at night from somewhat deeper 
water where they have been spending 
the day, for instance, large-eyed red 
tropical species with relationship to 
other similar forms whose habitat is 
entirely in deeper water. It may be, 
on the other hand, that they are mere- 
By JOHN T. NICHOLS 
Courtesy of American Museum. Nat. History 
A lantern fish ( Lampanyctus ) 
ly in hiding during the day time, and 
come out at night-fall. 
The cod is a familiar species which 
reaches Long Island waters with the 
advent of the colder months. It almost 
surely migrates in schools along the 
shore. Similarly the bluefish and the 
weakfish come up from the south along 
the shore in spring to spend the sum- 
mer in these waters. 
T HE young of a great many fishes 
require comparatively in - shore 
waters, and in such cases adults 
move in-shore about the breeding time. 
Ground sharks (Car char hinus) which 
enter Great South Bay in* mid-summer 
doubtless do so for the express purpose 
of giving birth to their young, just as 
the shad and other “anadromous” fishes 
run up the rivers to spawn, but it 
seems improbable that these forms are 
anything but coastwise at any time of 
the year. Any extensive migration 
which they may have is probably along 
the coast, with a north-south factor. 
Practically nothing is known of gen- 
eral movements among the true off- 
shore species, the dolphin and the 
oceanic bonito. Their small schools 
certainly cover vast distances in erratic 
wandering for food. It seems probable 
that when spawning they congregate in 
schools of much larger size, but there 
is little or no data to bear out this 
hypothesis. On December 4, 1906, the 
writer came upon such a large school 
of the small dolphin (Coryphaena 
equisetis) in the tropical Pacific at ap- 
proximately 10 degrees north and 119 
degrees west. The single specimen ob- 
tained was a female full of spawn 
about a foot long. This locality is near 
the northerly limits of the Doldrum 
belt, whence the natural drift of the 
currents would carry the young west- 
ward in the trades, northward along 
the Asiatic shore and thence distribute 
them throughout the North Pacific. 
N interesting discussion of the 
movements of fresh-water fishes 
is quoted below from a recently 
published book on Lake Maxinkuckee, 
Indiana, by Evermann and Clark* 
[Editors.] 
FISH MOVEMENTS IN AN INDI- 
ANA LAKE 
I N a body of water as small as Lake 
Maxinkuckee and with no consider- 
able tributary streams or outflow, 
the movements of the fishes are neces- 
sarily much restricted. There are, 
however, certain movements that may 
be considered, as follows: 
From one depth to another: — Move- 
ments of this kind occur at various 
times. 
a. During the summer, when the 
deeper parts of the lake are abundantly 
supplied with absorbed oxygen, certain 
species, such as the wall-eyed pike and 
to some extent the small-mouth black 
bass, the large-mouth bass, the bluegill 
and the yellow perch, will be found in 
deep water. This is particularly true 
of the wall-eyed pike; of the other spe- 
cies named it is true only to a very 
limited extent. In the fall, even as 
early as September, the oxidation of 
the vast amount of dead plankton 
which during the summer has been 
slowly falling to the bottom of the lake 
in a continuous shower from above, 
will have exhausted the supply of 
oxygen in the deep water. The wall- 
eyed pike and other fishes which were 
able to live there during the summer 
are now forced to move up to shallower 
depths to which, fortunately, they are 
able to adapt themselves. This move- 
ment is not usually until toward the 
end of September or in October. By 
the middle of October they have come 
out into water 30 to 45 feet deep and 
may be taken on or about the bars 
between those depths. Later in tbo 
*Lake Maxinkuckee: A Physical and Biologi- 
cal Survey. By Barton Warren Evermann and 
Howard Walton Clark. 2 volumes. Illus- 
trated. $3.50 in Indiana and $5.25 outside the 
State. Publication No. 7. Indiana Conserva- 
tion Commission. 1920. This is a very inter- 
esting reference work for the fresh-water angle: 
with a taste for natural history. 
