186 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
scales of 21 examples from Fernandina, Fla., taken March 6, 1920, would seem to 
indicate that 3-year-old fish may range in length from 39 to 59 cm. (15^ to 231 
inches) and of one from Sandy Hook Bay, N. J., on September 14, 1921, that a fish 
of about 6 years may measure 82.6 cm. (32 J inches), but as the markings on the 
scales are obscure, further studies are required to confirm this estimate, which shows 
a remarkably slow rate of growth for a species reaching such a large size. 
The following comparison of weight and length of the smaller fish is taken from 
the same sample of 21 fish from Fernandina. 
Length. 
40 cm. (15.7 inches). 
45 cm. (17.7 inches). 
50 cm. (19.7 inches). 
55 cm. (21.7 inches). 
60 cm. (23.6 inches). 
65 cm. (25.6 inches). 
70 cm. (27.6 inches). 
75 cm. (29.5 inches). 
Weight. 
650 g. (1.43 pounds). 
950 g. (2.09 pounds). 
1,300 g. (2.86 pounds). 
1,700 g. (3.75 pounds). 
2,250 g. (4.96 pounds). 
2,800 g. (6.17 pounds). 
3,400 g. (7.50 pounds). 
4,150 g. (9.15 pounds). 
From the above figures a formula for the calculation of weight from length 
L 3 
can be drawn, as follows: gg= W, where L = length in centimeters, and W— the 
weight in grams. The formula ?, fy j = where L = length in inches, and W= 
weight in. pounds avoirdupois. These formulae will give approximately correct 
results with fish under 75 cm. (30 inches) in length. 
According to It. H. Corson, the well-known New Jersey angler, Sciaenops has 
extraordinary tenacity. He has seen specimens left out of water for at least 45 
minutes roll on hot midsummer beaches and states that at the end of the time they 
were able to swim away apparently unharmed. 
Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus). Whiting, King Whiting, Sea Mink, 
Hake, Sea Mullet, Virginia Mullet, Kingfish, Roundhead, Carolina 
Whiting. 
Menticirrhus americanus (fig. 45) is the most abundant species of its genus 
from the Chesapeake capes to Texas, its range extending northward to New York. 
On the New Jersey coast, where it appears in late summer, it is found in company 
with M. saxatilis and is not always recognized by fishermen as distinct from that 
species. In the northern part of its range it disappears from the inshore waters in 
autumn, but in Florida waters many are taken by the shrimp fishermen throughout 
the winter months. 
The spawning season of this species appears to be later than that of Menti-- 
cirrhus saxatilis, but its duration is not exactly known. Smith (1907) gives June 
as the spawning season at Beaufort, N. C.; but many females were examined in 
August, 1920, at Atlantic City, N. J., and the eggs in all of them, although well 
developed, were hard, and no spent fish were taken. Also 66 young examples of 
from 2 to 7 cm. (|-2| inches), 9 with a modal length of 4 cm. (1 inches), were taken 
at Boca Grande, Fla., on April 2, 1917 (fig. 44), which would indicate that in the 
» The stomach of one of these contained an example of the same species 1.2 cm. (one-half inch) in total length. 
