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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU 01 FISHERIES 
In Maryland it ranked seventeenth both in quantity and value, the catch in 1920 being 3,765 
pounds, worth $150. The entire catch was taken with pound nets. The counties having the largest 
catches were Somerset, Kent, and Dorchester. 
In Virginia the starfish ranked ninth in quantity and thirteenth in value, the catch in 1920 
being 315,916 pounds, worth $10,500. The entire catch was taken with pound nets. The counties 
taking the most fish were Elizabeth City, with 138,850 pounds; Mathews, with 72,399 pounds; 
and Warwick, with 38,880 pounds. 
The starfish is caught in commercial quantities in the Chesapeake from May until October. 
The first catches, amounting to 10 pounds or more, taken by a set of two pound nets in Lynnhaven 
Roads, were made on the following dates: May 17, 1916; May 22, 1917; May 16, 1918; May 29, 
1919; June 7, 1920; May 9, 1921; May 6, 1922; and May 21, 1923. The starfish appears in the 
bay about a month later and leaves the bay about a month earlier than the butterfish. Small 
numbers are taken during the latter half of April, and occasionally a fair catch is made near the 
mouth of the bay as late as early in November. Large catches are made from the end of May until 
the end of September. During the seven-year period, 1916 to 1922, the largest catch of starfish 
made by a set of two pound nets at Lynnhaven Roads, Va., on any one day of each successive 
month from May to October, was as follows: May 30, 1919, 3,400 pounds; June 4, 1918, 3,800 pounds; 
July 8, 1919, 2,100 pounds; August 23, 1922, 5,500 pounds; September 10, 1921, 4,000 pounds; 
October 4, 1919, 400 pounds. 
The starfish is confined chiefly to the lower part of the bay, and, like the butterfish, only small 
quantities are caught above the Potomac River. The season in the upper parts of the bay is some- 
what shorter. At Love Point, Md., the most northern locality where this species is taken in com- 
mercial numbers, the season commences in June and ends early in October. 
This species is closely associated with the butterfish, Poronotus triacanthus, and in appearance, 
size, and edible qualities the two species are very much alike. Both species are frequently sold 
together under the name “butterfish.” 
Because of the great body depth, fish as small as 3 inches long can not escape through the 
meshes of the usual size used in the pound-net trap. Each year thousands of pounds of small, 
unmarketable starfish are trapped and destroyed in Chesapeake Bay. Frequently 1,000 or more 
undersized fish are taken in a single pound net on one day. The greater part of these waste fish 
could be returned to the water alive if fishermen would give the small amount of time and care 
that would be necessary. 
Although large catches of starfish are made frequently, particularly in the lower parts of the 
bay, the total annual catch in the Chesapeake is only about one-fourth as great as that of the 
butterfish. 
Large shipments of starfish are made to various points in Maryland and Virginia. Shipments 
are made to the large markets of the North, but there the species is not as well known as the butter- 
fish. The retail price in 1921 and 1922 generally varied from 12 to 20 cents a pound, but large fish 
frequently brought 25 cents. The size of most of the market fish ranges from 7 to 9 inches in 
length, but fish 10 and 10 inches long are not uncommon. The maximum length is about 11 
inches and the weight about 1 Vt pounds. Many fish were used in determining the following rela- 
tionship between lengths and weights: Three inches, 0.4 ounce; 3^ inches, 0.7 ounce; 4 inches, 
1 ounce; 5 inches, 1.6 ounces; 6 inches, 2.5 ounces. 
Habitat . — Southern Massachusetts to Florida. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: “Many parts of Chesapeake Bay, as far north as 
the Patapsco River” (Uhler and Lugger, 1876); lower Potomac River and Cape Charles city, 
Va. (6) Specimens in collection and observed: In many localities from Annapolis, Md., south- 
ward to Cape Charles and Cape Henry, Va. 
84. Genus PORONOTUS Gill. Butterfishes 
This genus is similar to Peprilus, differing, however, in having a more elongate body, a row 
of large conspicuous pores on the back near the base of the dorsal, and in having the dorsal and 
anal fins anteriorly much less strongly elevated. 
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