SCI^NiaE OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES COAST. 
159 
probable from observations made in the summer of 1920 that these schools are 
chiefly composed of fish that do not spawn until September. In October the 
adults disappear and are not seen again until the following spring. Although it 
has been supposed by many that these fish migrate to the southward, proof of such 
migration is lacking. It is known that the species is very sensitive to sudden 
reductions in water temperature, and this fact gives reason to suppose that the fish 
seek regions of warm water in the winter months, but whether the movement is 
southward or eastward to the warm and deep waters on the inner edge of the Gulf 
Stream remains to be determined. 
During their first summer the young remain in or near the waters in which they 
were hatched and move off to sea in the early fall. At Fernandina, Fla., the young 
are found throughout the winter in from 3 to 5 fathoms of water, on the bottom, 
and large numbers are taken in the trawls of the shrimp fishermen at that place. 
FOOD. 
The food of Cynoscion regalis reflects the rapacious and free-ranging nature 
of this species in that most of it was found to be typical of the plankton of regions 
from which taken. The itemized lists and tables below give in detail the results 
obtained from examination of the stomachs of 313 examples, ranging in size from 
2.6 to 39 cm. (1 to 15£ inches) in standard lengths, that were taken at various 
points from Massachusetts to Florida. These lists indicate the types of food taken, 
with their relative amounts expressed in volumetric percentages. All measure- 
ments of specimens indicate the standard length. 
Head of the Acushnet River, Mass., September 8, 1882 . — Of 28 examples, 7 to 11 
cm. long, 5 were empty. Of the remaining 23 all but 2 had gorged themselves 
on either shrimps or fish. 
V olumetric 
percentage. 
Shrimps 47.0 
Isopods 5 
Polychaet worms 5 
Fish 48.0 
U nidentified material 4.0 
Most of the material was in an undigested state and therefore readily identifi- 
able. The following list gives in detail the fishes encountered in the stomach 
contents, together with the standard lengths of the examples of squeteague from 
which taken : 
Table 4. — Fish remains in stomach contents of squeteague from Acushnet River, Mass., 1882. 
Standard 
Fish remains. 
Standard 
Fish remains. 
length of 
example in 
centimeters. 
Description. 
Length in 
centi- 
meters. 
length of 
example in 
centimeters. 
Description. 
Length in 
centi- 
meters. 
9 
Fundulus heteroclitus (Walbaum) . 
do 
2.8 
9 
Pomolobus aestivalis (Mitchill) 
4. 1 
7 
2.5 
4. 1 
7 
_. .do... . 
2.3 
9 
do. .. 
3. 2 
11 
Pomolobus aestivalis (Mitchill) 
3.7 
do 
10 
3.8 
8 
do 
3.6 
10 
do 
3.6 
10 
Vertebrae only. 
10 
do 
3.5 
