FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
227 
This species is represented by 35 specimens, ranging in length from 55 to 215 millimeters (2J4 
to inches). The steep, concave forehead and the low dorsal and anal fins, bearing no produced 
rays, readily separate this fish from related forms occurring in Chesapeake Bay. The young, as 
in related species, are proportionately shorter and deeper than the adults, and the bony scutes on 
the sides of the tail are not evident. 
The horsefish appears to be carnivorous. Four stomachs were examined and contained only 
the remains of fish. In one stomach an anchovy was recognizable among the contents. The 
spawning habits of this fish are unknown. 
The size of a catch of 16 fish, taken one day in October with a haul seine at Ocean View, ranged 
from 49 to 94 millimeters (2 to 3;hjt inches). Most of the fish taken on May 25, mentioned below, 
were 121 to 152 millimeters (4% to 6 inches) in length, which probably represents the growth from 
the preceding October. 
The horsefish is not uncommon in the southern part of Chesapeake Bay during the fishing season. 
However, it was not found far from the entrance of the bay, and probably does not occur above the 
mouth of the Rappahannock River. Examples taken in the spring included more large fish than 
those taken during autumn. The fish is caught both in pound nets and in seines. The largest single 
catch observed was taken from a pound net in Lynnhaven Roads, Va., on May 25, 1922, when 
about 2,000 horsefish, ranging from 4 z /i to 8J-£ inches in length, occurred in the trap among other 
fish. It also was taken in small numbers during the fall of 1922, in haul seines at Ocean View, Va. 
This species, although esteemed as a food fish in some localities, is not utilized in the Chesapeake. 
The maximum weight attained is said to be about 1 pound. The fish in Chesapeake Bay, however, 
run rather small, and none approaching 1 pound in weight was seen. 
Habitat . — Nova Scotia to Uruguay; rare north of Cape Cod. 
Chesapeake localities.— (a) Previous record: “Not rare in * * * the southern part of 
Chesapeake Bay” (Uhler and Lugger, 1876). (6) Specimens in collections: Lynnhaven Roads 
and Ocean View, Va. 
93. Genus TRACHINOTXJS Lacepede. The pompanoes 
Body, short, compressed, more or less ovate; abdomen shorter than anal fin, never trenchant; 
head short; snout blunt; mouth rather small, terminal or slightly inferior; premaxillaries protractile; 
maxillary without a distinct supplemental bone; teeth in young in villiform bands on jaws, vomer, 
palatines, and tongue, almost completely disappearing with age; preopercle serrate in very young, 
becoming entire with age; gill membranes somewhat united across the isthmus; gill rakers short 
and rather few; scales small, smooth; lateral line scarcely arched, unarmed; first dorsal with six 
short, strong spines in addition to a procumbent spine; second dorsal and anal similar, anteriorly 
more or less elevated in adult, long and falcate in some species; caudal broadly forked, the lobes 
sometimes produced in adults; pectorals never falcate, always shorter than head. 
