SCL33NID2E OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES COAST. 
157 
about 3.5 in head (5 or less in adult) ; the maxillary reaches to the posterior edge 
of the pupil (to behind pupil, even to hinder edge of eye in adult) ; the caudal is 
pointed, the median rays longest, the upper lobe slightly lunate, and the lower 
lobe straight or slightly rounded; with age the median rays become shorter until 
in specimens about 10 cm. long the caudal is truncate and in the adult distinctly 
concave. The gill rakers are longer and more slender than in Cynoscion nebulosus 
and remarkably uniform in number at all ages, 6 + 11, the longest about two-thirds 
the diameter of the eye. 
GROWTH. 
The growth of the young of Cynoscion regalis is rapid, but not to the degree 
surmised by Eigenmann (1901, p. 47), who states that “it seems very probable 
that the fish reaches marketable size in about a year from birth.” Eigenmann’s 
conclusions were based on observations of growth in July and August, at which 
period he found the young to double their length in about 30 days. 
Measurements of 10 .large samples of young fish, taken at various times from 
July to March, have since been made by us. These show a rapid growth until 
September, when the rate begins to decrease, growth practically ceasing in November 
and beginning again the following spring. July and August are the months of 
most rapid growth. Fish hatched on June 1 should average as follows in total 
length, according to our calculations : 
July 1 3 cm. (1£ inches). 
Aug. 1 8 cm. (3J inches). 
Sept. 1 13 cm. (5| inches). 
Oct. 1 17 cm. (6} inches). 
Nov. 1 18 cm. (7J inches). 
Tracy (1908) made some tentative deductions as to the rate of growth in the 
early stages, and his conclusions agree surprisingly well with the figures given 
above. An analysis of his results indicates that an average length of about 1.75 
cm. (f inch) is reached on the fifteenth day after hatching. Our list suggests an 
average length at 15 days after hatching not far from this figure, for since fish 
hatched June 1 reach a length of 3 cm. (1| inches) by the end of the month it would 
appear that halfway through that month, or on the fifteenth day after hatching, 
they reach a length of about 1.5 cm. As this interpolation is made for the month 
of June and Tracy’s work was done in July, when growth is known to be more 
rapid, the agreement is particularly close. 
Owing to the extended spawning season and the consequent wide variation in 
length of the fish in their first winter, it is difficult to follow the subsequent growth 
by measurement of specimens, as the year classes overlap each other in size. The 
best method of determining age after the first year is by examination of the scales, 
but this also presents some difficulties, chief among which is the absence of a first 
winter ring in the scales of the smaller fish of any one year. 
The following is a summary of calculations as to estimated average lengths 
for the first five years made from a sample of 74 fish taken on the spawning grounds 
