FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
301 
Many specimens of this common species, ranging in length from 30 to 460 millimeters (1M 
to 18 inches), were preserved. The young are proportionately deeper and more strongly com- 
pressed than the adult. The caudal fin is round or even pointed, and the very young are largely 
pale in color, with more or less definite dark bars on the back. This species is most readily dis- 
tinguished from related species by the greenish color of the back, bearing darker markings, which 
form mostly oblique wavy lines. 
The sexes in the adults of this species may be separated externally by feeling the abdom- 
inal wall. In the female the wall is uniformly thin. The male, however, has the walls thickened 
on each side along the lower ventral edge, due to the croaking or 
drumming muscles that are situated there. The female has no 
croaking muscles and can not make a croaking sound. The air 
bladder, which is used in making the sounds, is present in both 
sexes. Special muscles, however, as in the male, are required 
to produce croaking or drumming. The process is described in 
part by Smith (1907, p. 307) as follows: “The muscle, with the 
aponeurosis, is in close relation with the large air bladder and 
by its rapid contraction produces a drumming sound with the 
aid of the tense air bladder, which acts as a resonator.” The 
value, or the purpose served, to the fish by croaking or drum- 
ming is not known. The females within a school usually aver- 
age a somewhat larger size than the males. 
The food of this fish, as indicated by the contents of 85 
stomachs taken from specimens collected in Chesapeake Bay, 
consists of the following: Small fish (mostly anchovies and silver- 
sides) and small crustaceans (largely Mysis). Large individuals 
had fed almost exclusively on fish and the young mainly on small to minute crustaceans. The 
food of the squeteague is discussed at considerable length by Welsh and Breder (1923, pp. 159 to 
164). These authors show that the food varies somewhat with the locality. Fish and crustaceans, 
however, are everywhere the principal foods, although mollusks and annelids also are eaten at times. 
It is noted also by Welsh and Breder that “small invertebrates” constitute the principal food of 
small-sized fish. 
The reader is referred to the work of Welsh and Breder (1923, pp. 150-158) for an extended 
account of the spawning, embryology, and growth of the squeteague. These authors state that 
spawning takes place in the larger bays and possibly in the ocean. The season is a protracted one, 
Fig. 178.— Newly hatched larva, 1.75 millimeters long 
commencing in May and continuing until September. The great majority of the fish, however, 
are reported to spawn between the middle of May and the middle of June, the season appearing 
to be little affected by latitude, spawning occurring at approximately the same time from the 
Carolinas to Cape Cod. 
The account of the development of the eggs and larvae given by the same authors in their 
account of this weakfish was taken from the field notes of Lewis Radcliffe, who took the eggs upon 
which the account is based in the lower part of Chesapeake Bay. The work was done aboard the 
Fish Hawk and constitutes a part of the present investigation. The eggs are described as being 
pelagic, spherical, about 1 millimeter in diameter, buoyant, and transparent. Hatching occurred 
Fig. 177.— Cynoscion regalis. Egg in two- 
cell stage 
