FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 163 ’ 
and placed opposite it; ventral fins well developed, inserted under and slightly in advance of pec- 
torals, 1.45 to 1.6 in head; pectorals narrow, 1.25 to 1.4 in head. 
Color in life, dark gray to brownish above, sides and belly silvery, highly iridescent. The 
iridescence fades soon after death and the color becomes dull silvery on sides and below. 
This northern fish is represented in the present collection by three specimens, ranging in length 
from 105 to 460 millimeters (4^ to 18^ inches). The silver hake is readily distinguished from 
the true hakes (Urophycis) by the presence of well-developed ventrals, instead of feelerlike ventrals, 
by two well-developed dorsals, the second of which, and the anal, are emarginate instead of straight, 
and by the absence of a chin barbel. 
The food of the silver hake, according to Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 389), consists principally 
of fish of suitable size, regardless of the species. Squids and occasionally crabs and other crustaceans 
also are eaten. 
Spawning takes place along the New England coast from June to October, the principal months 
being July and August. Most of the ripe fish have been taken at depths of 50 fathoms or less, but 
others have been taken at 300 fathoms off southern New England (Goode and Bean, 1896, p. 387). 
Spawning, therefore, not only is protracted, but covers a wide range of depths. No ripe silver 
hakes have been observed in Chesapeake Bay, and it is so rare that we do not hesitate to eliminate 
this region as a probable spawning ground. 
The eggs float at the surface and are about 0.88 to 0.95 millimeters in diameter. 12 Incubation 
is fairly rapid, being about 48 hours at Woods Hole, Mass., but no doubt somewhat longer in the 
cooler waters of its natural breeding grounds. Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 394) believe that tem- 
peratures of 55° to 60° F. are the most suitable for normal incubation. Recently hatched larvae 
are 2.8 millimeters in length, and many of the adult characters have been assumed at 20 to 25 
millimeters. Newly hatched silver hake are pelagic but take to the bottom the first autumn at a 
length of 1 or 1 3^ inches. Little is known about the rate of growth. 
In the Chesapeake the silver hake is taken only in the spring and only in the lower sections 
of the bay, not far from the capes. Its appearance from year to year is very erratic; in some years 
none are taken, in others only stragglers are caught, and occasionally, as in 1920, a fair catch is 
made. In a set of two pound nets, operated in Lynnliaven Roads from 1908 to 1923, catches of 
about 10 pounds or more on any one day were taken only in 1918 and 1920. In 1918 the silver 
hake was taken on only two days in these nets — 100 pounds on May 3 and about 200 pounds on May 
4. The year 1920 was exceptional, for this hake was caught from April 28 to May 17 in quantities 
of 10 to 150 pounds daily, the aggregate catch being about 1,000 pounds. The small local catch 
is easily disposed of in the Norfolk markets, where the fish is known as winter trout. 
The silver hake is an important market fish in New England, but its value has only recently 
been realized. Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 396) point out that only 37,000 pounds were saved in 
Massachusetts and Maine in 1895, but that 14,000,000 pounds were marketed in 1919. It is 
exceedingly abundant at Provincetown, where it is taken in mackerel wiers in the spring and summer. 
There it is frozen, and a large market for it has been developed in the Middle West. Oddly enough, 
11 For an account of the embryology of this fish see Kuntz and Radeliffe, 1918, pp. 109-112. 
