110 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
and in the absence of a definite silvery lateral band. The fish does not acquire all the characters 
of the adult until a length of about 60 millimeters is reached. 
The food of this anchovy (according to an examination made of 44 stomachs taken from speci- 
mens collected during the months of January, February, April, May, July, August, October, and 
November) consisted almost wholly of Mysis and copepods. The former appeared to be the prin- 
cipal food of the adult and the latter the sole food of the young. Other foods consisted of two small 
anchovies (indicating cannibalism), three small gastropods, and one isopod. No changes in the 
foods taken at different seasons of the year are apparent. 
The spawning season, as shown by field observations, egg collections, laboratory dissections, 
and by the widely separated dates upon which very young specimens were taken is a prolonged 
one, extending through the months of May, June, July, and August. The eggs, according to Kuntz 
(1914, p. 14), are slightly elongate, the major axis being 0.65 to 0.75 millimeter and the minor axis 
is from 0.1 to 0.3 millimeter shorter. The eggs are pelagic and almost perfectly transparent. The 
period of incubation at summer temperatures is about 24 hours. The larvae, when hatched, are 
only 1.8 to 2 millimeters in length. The rate of growth of the young fish is extremely difficult to 
follow as it is impossible to separate collections into age groups by lengths. This almost perfect 
gradation of size among the young no doubt largely results from the protracted spawning season. 
The maximum size attained by this anchovy, as shown by measurements made of Chesapeake 
collections, is a little less than 4 inches, for the largest fish obtained were 97 millimeters long (weight, 
one-third ounce). The average length of this fish for Ches- 
apeake Bay is about 3 inches. This anchovy occurs in schools, 
and it is the most abundant species of fish, with the probable 
exception of the silverside ( Menidia menidia), that inhabits the 
bay. It is present at all seasons of the year. During cold 
weather it appears to frequent chiefly deep water, but during 
the summer it is generally common along the shores and even 
in muddy coves, and it also ascends fresh-water streams. It 
is sometimes taken in the Potomac River in fresh water near 
Bryans Point, about 12 miles belowWashington. 
In several Old World countries the anchovies are preserved 
like sardines and in various other ways. In America, however, 
they are much more important as food for other fish than as 
food for man. This species is not at all utilized by man in 
the Chesapeake region, yet it undoubtedly is of very great indirect commercial importance, as 
it appears to enter into the food of the larger predatory species more frequently than any other 
one species. 
Habitat . — Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from Massachusetts to Texas; rarely northward to Maine. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Tolchester Beach, Riverside, Somerset Beach, 
lower Potomac, St. Jeromes, Md., and Cape Charles, Va. ( b ) Specimens seen or taken during 
the present investigation: From virtually all parts of the bay, from Havre de Grace, Md., to Lynn- 
haven Roads, Va. 
41. Anchoviella epsetus (Bonnaterre). Anchovy. 
Esox epsetus Bonnaterre, Ichthy., 1788, p. 175. 
Slolephorus brownii Bean, 1891, p. 93; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 443. 
Anchoviella epsetus Jordan and Seale, 1926, p. 396. 
Head 3.6 to 4; depth 4.5 to 5.2; D. 14 to 16; A. 20 or 21; scales 38 to 40. Body moderately 
compressed; the ventral and dorsal outlines about evenly curved; the margin of abdomen little 
compressed; head moderate; snout conical, strongly projecting, 4.3 to 5.6 in head; eye 3.6 to 4.4; 
interorbital 3.8 to 5; mouth large, slightly oblique; maxillary long and sharply pointed, reaching 
nearly or quite to margin of opercle, 1.2 to 1.58 in head; teeth in the jaws small, sharply pointed; 
gill rakers rather long, about 20 on the lower limb of the first arch; scales thin, deciduous, extend- 
ing on the base of the fins; dorsal fin small, its origin a little nearer base of caudal than tip of snout; 
caudal fin forked; anal fin of moderate length, its origin under the last rays of dorsal; ventral fins 
small, inserted equidistant from base of pectorals and the origin of the anal; pectoral fins moderate, 
1.65 to 1.95 in head. 
