FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
231 
1916. The nets to which the foregoing records apply are two of the largest and most favorably 
located of any in Chesapeake Bay. 
Small pompanos from 3 to 8 inches in length are common along the shores of lower Chesapeake 
Bay from late summer to fall. Late in the season these small fish are found as far north as Solomons, 
Md., where a number were taken in October, 1922, with collecting seines and pound nets. During 
haul-seine fishing for spots and spotted squeteague in the lower part of the bay in the fall, many 
small pompanos are drawn on the beach, where they become smothered with sand and perish. 
Pompanos less than 7 inches in length are not marketed. 
This species of pompano is one of the choicest of all salt-water fishes and everywhere commands 
a high price. The retail price in the Norfolk market during 1921 and 1922 ranged from 40 to 50 
cents a pound. Most of the catch is marketed locally, but when a good run of fish occurs shipments 
are made to other markets. 
This pompano reaches a weight of about 5 pounds. The Chesapeake fish, however, seldom 
exceed a weight of 3 pounds, the average size of the market fish ranging between 1 and 2 pounds. 
Habitat. — Massachusetts to Brazil. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: “Chesapeake Bay,” Cape Charles city, Va. 
(b) Specimens in collection: Solomons, Md., Cape Charles, Buckroe Beach, Ocean View, and Lynn- 
haven Roads, Va. 
Comparison of lengths and weights of pompanos 
Number of fish measured and weighed 
Length 
Weight 
Number of fish measured and weighed 
Length 
Weight 
1„ 
1 __ 
10 . 
9.. 
27. 
24. 
13. 
11 . 
14. 
9__ 
Inches 
m 
3M 
4 
414 
4J/ 2 
4 % 
5 
5K 
5'A 
5M 
Ounces 
0.3 
.4 
.5 
.6 
.7 
.8 
.9 
1.0 
1.1 
1.4 
5 
3 
2 
3 
1 
4. 
1 
1 
2 
Inches 
6 
OR 
6I2 
6' 
7 
7J4 
I'A 
7 54 
814 
I5y 2 
Ounces 
1.6 
1.7 
2.1 
2.4 
2.6 
2.8 
3.2 
3.5 
4.6 
30.5 
Family LIV. — POMATOMID/E. The hluefishes 
Body oblong, compressed; head large; mouth large, oblique; premaxillaries protractile; maxil- 
lary not slipping under preorbital, provided with a large supplemental bone; lower jaw projecting; 
jaws each with a series of strong, compressed, unequal teeth, upper jaw with an inner series of small 
depressed teeth; villiform teeth present on vomer, palatines, and tongue; gill membranes separate, 
free from the isthmus; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; branchiostegals 7; opercle ending in a flat 
point; preopercular margin serrate; scales rather small, weakly ctenoid; lateral line complete, un- 
armed; first dorsal composed of about eight weak spines; second dorsal and anal similar, the latter 
preceded by two small free spines; caudal forked; ventrals thoracic, with I, 5 rays; pectorals rather 
short. A single widely distributed genus and species is known. 
94. Genus POMATOMUS Lacepede. Bluefishes 
The characters of the genus are included in the family description. 
124. Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnasus). Bluefish; Tailor; “Greenfish;” “Snapping mackerel. ” 
Perea saltatrix Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, p. 293; Carolina. 
Pomatomus saltatrix LThler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 136; ed. II, p. 116; McDonald, 1882, pp. 12 and 13; Bean, 1883, p. 366; 
Bean, 1891, p. 91; Smith, 1892, p. 71; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 946, PI. CXLVIII, fig. 400. 
Head 3.1 to 3.4; depth 3.1 to 3.55 (in large fish about 4); D. VIII-I, 23 to 26; A. II— I, 25 to 27; 
scales about 95 to 105. Body elongate, moderately compressed; head rather long; snout pointed 
3.35 to 3.95 in head; eye 4.4 to 5.6; interorbital 4.05 to 4.6; mouth large, moderately oblique; lower 
jaw projecting; maxillary reaching nearly or quite to posterior margin of eye, 2.05 to 2.3 in head; 
gill rakers short, 11 to 14 on lower limb of first arch; scales small, thin, more or less deciduous, densely 
49826—28 16 
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