FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
263 
Fig. 149. — Egg with embryo 
The rate of growth, as given by Bean (1903, p. 560), is as follows: July 3, length )4 to 1)4 
Inches; August 2, 1 )4 to 2 inches; September 6, 2 to 3 inches; September 29, 3 to 4 inches; Novem- 
ber 1, 4 inches. In Chesapeake Bay we seined 30 scup, 63 to 92 millimeters (2)4 to 3)4 inches) in 
length, on September 23; 9 scups, 83 to 106 millimeters (3)4 to 4)4 inches) , on October 6; and 5 fish, 
115 to 123 millimeters (4)4 to 4)4 inches), on October 11. On May 23, at Cape Charles, 50 scups, 
121 to^l55 millimeters (4)4 to 6)4 inches) in length, were taken with a 180-fathom seine, and on 
May^25, in Lynnhaven Roads, 25 fish ranging from 5 to 6 inches in length were caught in a pound 
net. No other young fish were observed. Taking Doctor Bean’s records of the rate of growth as a 
guide, its seems fair to conclude that the fish taken in Chesapeake Bay in September and October 
were'the result of the hatch of the preceding spring, and it seems prob- 
able then that the fish taken in May are approximately 1 year old. 
During ^1920 the scup ranked twenty-fourth in quantity and 
twenty-second in value in Chesapeake Bay, the catch being 7,165 
pounds, worth $585. As the scup is taken only in the lower part of 
the bay, the total catch is credited to Virginia, where the fish takes 
the same rank as for the entire bay. Nearly the entire catch was 
takenj?in pound nets in Elizabeth City and Northampton Counties. 
This fish is taken in the Chesapeake from April until late Octo- 
ber. The small annual catch is caught in the bay below the York 
River. The^first fish generally appear early in April and are large 
in size, weighing 1 to 3 pounds. Later the fish are slightly more 
plentiful and smaller. The greater part of the catch, as already 
stated, is taken with pound nets. A catch as great as 25 pounds in 
one day is seldom made by one set of nets, and frequently not more than this amount is taken during 
an entire month. Scups are caught occasionally with haul seines at Ocean View in September and 
October. In 54 hauls made by three 300-fathom haul seines at Ocean View from September 20 to 
October 27, 1922, the scup was taken on only one day (October 8), when 25 fish, each about 9 
inches long, were present in a catch. The scup takes the hook freely, but it is seldom caught by 
that method in the Chesapeake. Small unmarketable fish are rather common near the mouth of the 
bay.from May until October. At Cape Charles, on May 23, 1922, for example, 50 scups, measuring 
from 5 to 6 inches in length, were caught in one haul with a seine 180 fathoms long. Frequently 
moderate numbers of fish of this size also are caught with pound nets and discarded. 
The local catch of scup is marketed in the Chesapeake region, but the fish does not meet with 
the same high regard that it does 
in New Jersey and northward. A 
closely related species, S. aculeatus, 
is occasionally caught and mar- 
keted along with S. chrysops, as 
the fishermen do not separate the 
species. 
Various names have been given 
to this species, but those most 
commonly used in the Chesapeake 
region are “maiden,” “ fair maid,” and “ ironsides”; the last name is in allusion to the hard, platelike 
scales. 
This fish is an abundant and important food fish in the northern part of its range. South of 
Virginia it is not abundant and of no commercial importance. The scup is taken in commercial 
numbers along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Cape Cod, Mass., the center of abundance being 
from New Jersey to Rhode Island. It is by far the most valuable food fish taken in Rhode Island, 
where in 1919 22 the catch amounted to 8,261,140 pounds, worth $817,846. In New York, in 
1921, 25 it ranked third in quantity and fifth in value, the catch amounting to 1,297,375 pounds, 
!l Fishery Industries of the United States. Report of the Division of Statistics and Methods of the Fisheries for 1920. By 
Lewis Radcliffe. Appendix V, Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries for 1921 (1922). Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 908, 
p. 128. Washington. 
13 Fishery Industries of the United States. Report of the Division of Fishery Industries for 1922. By Harden F. Taylor. 
Appendix V, Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries for 1923 (1924). Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 954, p. 08. Washington. 
49826—28 18 
