FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
273 
expected. The larger fish apparently come from those parent fish that spawned first (late fall), 
and the smaller fish result from the later (early winter) spawners. The monthly increase in length 
appears to be quite rapid during the summer and early fall. No spots less than 4 inches in length 
were collected from September to November. The predominating sizes trawled by the Fish Hawk 
in December, however, were only 85 to 95 millimeters (33^ to 3 % inches) in length; while late in 
January, out of a total catch of 383 spots taken in various parts of the bay, 354 ranged in length 
from 80 to 110 millimeters (3J4 to 4 Cj inches). Whether these small fish are runts that remained 
in Chesapeake Bay over the winter while the larger fish migrated out, or are younger fish, is not 
known. If they were younger fish one would be obliged to conclude that the species has a double 
spawning period. In that event the smaller and younger fish would be expected to occur earlier 
in collections. The absence of these smaller fish in catches made during September, October, and 
November, when thousands of spots, almost all over 4 inches long, were taken with fine-meshed 
collecting seines alongshore and in beam trawls offshore, together with the fact that spots with 
large roe have been observed only during the fall and early winter, however, tends to discredit 
such a theory. 
Length f requencies of 1,321 spots, Leiostomus xanlhurus 
[Measurements in millimeters, grouped in 5-millimeter intervals] 
Total length, milli- 
Mar. 
Apr. 
May 
June 
July 
Aug. 
Sept. 
Oct. 
Nov. 
Dec. 
Jan. 
meters 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-30 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-30 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-30 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-30 
1-15 
16-31 
1-15 
16-31 
15-19 
1 
. 8 
20-24 
11 
2 
46 
2 
25-29 
2 

30-34 
131 
3 
35-39 
3 
80 
12 
40-44 
1 
31 
21 
4 
45-49 
6 
22 
50-54 
1 
5 
13 
10 
55-59 
1 
10 
13 
.... 
60-64 . 
5 
2 
65-69 
| 
2 
2 
7 
7 
1 
70-74 __ 
1 
1 
3 
11 
1 
75-79 
1 
9 

1 
3 
10 
80-84 
2 
6 
8 
6 
46 
85-89 
2 
5 
16 
75 
90-94 
1 
2 
14 
9, 
13 
95-99 
1 
1 
8 
3 
2 
68 
100-104 
2 
10 
5 
T 
3 
46 
105-109 
1 
4 
3 
2 
2 
4 
28 
110-114... 
6 
3 
10 
3 
7 
115-11P 
2 
6 
7 
17 
4 
2 
4 
120-124 
1 
2 
4 
11 
3 
6 
125-129 
.... 
1 
9 
13 
3 
7 
130-134 
1 
0 -1 
15 
9 
135-139 
i 
1 
3 
4 
1 
140-144 . 
1 
1 
3 
9 
145-149 
1 
1 
2 
1 
11 
1 
1 
150-154. 
5 
4 
1 
155-159 
1 
1 
5 
1 
160-164. 
1 
5 
1 
165-169. 
i 

1 
1 
2 
170-174. 
1 
2 


1 
6 
1 
180-184 
.... 
4 
1 
185-189 

190-194. 
__ _ 
2 
1 
9 
195-199.. - 
2 

2 
200-204. _ 
1 
1 
205-209. . 
1 
1 
1 
1 
.... 
210-214. .. 
215-219. 
1 
2 
250-254. 
1 
295-299.. 
| 
1 
Total, 
1 
“ 
11 
12 
387 
1 
107 
8 
73 
.... 
82 
.... 
50 
.... 
135 
.... 
28 
52 
— 
374 
Collections of spots made at Beaufort in shallow water during the winter of 1926-27 consist 
almost exclusively of small fish, their average length being considerably below that of fish taken 
before cold weather came, which appears to indicate that the smallest young of the season have a 
tendency to remain in their early habitat, whereas the larger ones migrate to deeper and warmer 
