262 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
in head; eye 2.5 to 3.9; interorbital 3.1 to 4; mouth rather small, terminal, oblique; maxillary 
scarcely reaching eye, 2.8 to 3.25 in head; incisor teeth on anterior part of jaws narrow and not 
notched, followed by smaller incisorlike teeth; two more or less definite rows of molar teeth laterally; 
gill rakers very short, nine more or less developed on lower limb of first arch; scales firm, finely 
ctenoid, extending on base of caudal, forming a very low sheath on dorsal and anal; dorsal fin long, 
continuous, the spinous portion higher than the soft part, the spines very slender, the second one 
frequently somewhat produced and reaching beyond the tip of the third when deflexed; caudal 
fin forked; anal fin with three spines, shorter but stronger than the dorsal spines, the soft part 
similar to that of the dorsal; ventral fins rather long and narrow, one or two of the outer rays with a 
slight filament, inserted a little behind base of pectorals; pectoral fins long, reaching beyond tips 
of ventrals in adults, proportionately shorter in young, 2.85 to 3.45 in length. 
Color bluish silvery above, plain silvery below; young with about six dark crossbars; fins 
mostly plain translucent; soft part of dorsal and sometimes the anal with brownish spots, these most 
distinct in the smaller specimens; axil usually with a dusky spot. 
Fig. 148 . — Stenotovtus chrysops 
Many specimens of this species, ranging from 70 to 260 millimeters (2^ to 10 *4, inches) in 
length, were preserved. The young differ from the adult in having distinct dark crossbars and 
proportionately shorter spines and rays in the fins. The narrow incisor teeth without notches, and 
the rather short to moderately long dorsal spines serve to separate the two closely related species of 
the genus from related forms. 
The food of the scup, according to the contents of 24 stomachs, consists of crustaceans, mollusks. 
worms, insect larvae, and small fish. 
Spawning takes place in the spring, principally in May and June. The eggs are reported to be 
transparent, spherical, and about 0.85 to 0.9 millimeter in diameter, and to hatch in about 40 hours 
at a mean temperature of approximately 71° F. 21 
No ripe fish were observed in Chesapeake Bay, and it is not known whether spawning occurs 
there. The few large fish that appear in April and early in May are soon replaced by smaller ones 
(6 inches, or less, in length), which apparently are immature. Bean (1903, p. 559) states that off 
New York large spawning fish appear first in May. The chief spawning period in that vicinity 
occurs in June. Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 268) state that in southern New England spawning 
takes place chiefly in June, but that the period extends from May to August. 
JI For an account of the embryology and larval development of the scup, see Kuntz and Radcliffe, 1918, pp. 102 to 105, figs. 
