REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCIAENIDAE 109 
length of 464 specimens measured was 168.8 millimeters (6% inches). The larger 
fish of the 0-class appear to be missing in the catches made during the winter, as the 
maximum and the average lengths of the specimens caught during January, February, 
and March were less than for December. (See table 5.) In April the largest indi- 
viduals were 225 to 238 millimeters (9 to 9F inches) long, and the average length of 
1,455 fish measured was 167.2 millimeters (6% inches). Therefore, the fish caught 
in April were about the same size as those taken in December. 
The data presented appear to show that some of the larger individuals of the 
0-class, like virtually all the adults, leave the shallower water, in which the collections 
were made, during cold weather. The data appear to show, also, that fish grow little, 
if at all, during their first winter, for in April even the adult fish have returned, and 
the samples taken should represent the class correctly. After April growth appears 
to be fairly rapid, for in June (when many of the fish were a year old) the average 
length of 615 examples measured was 175.8 millimeters (7 inches) and the extremes 
in length extended from 97 to about 253 millimeters (4 to 10 inches). The length 
attained in June shows that some of the fish undoubtedly reach a marketable size 16 
during their second summer. 
The size attained by the young fish at Beaufort, as shown by the accompanying 
tables, is not in disagreement with published accounts. Eigenmann (1901, p. 47), 
working with fish at Woods Hole, Mass., states, “It seems very probable that the 
fish reaches a marketable size in about a year from birth.” Welsh and Breder (1923, 
p. 157) have calculated the average length of fish hatched on June 1, based on “meas- 
urements of 10 large samples of young fish, taken at various times from July to 
March” to he 30, 80, 130, 170, and 180 millimeters (1 %, ?>}%, 5’s, 6%, and 7 inches), 
respectively, on July 1, August 1, September 1, October 1, and November 1. These 
writers unfortunately do not name the localities in which the fish were caught. 
Therefore, the data cast no light on the rate of growth in different localities. No 
calculations were made by us that are directly comparable. However, the lengths 
given by the authors cited, in general, fall in with the larger individuals of the 0-class 
caught at Beaufort, N.C., on approximately the same dates. 
Table 4. — Length frequencies of 8,382 gray trout ( Cynoscion regalis) under 380 millimeters in length 
Millimeters 
May 
June 
July 
Aug- 
ust 
Septem- 
ber 
October 
Novem- 
ber 
Decem- 
ber 
Janu- 
ary 
Febru- 
ary 
March 
April 
0-4 
1 
4 
5 
10 
5-9 
8 
25 
164 
25 
10-14 
10 
123 
20 
1 
15-19 
7 
29 
5 
20-24 
3 
14 
8 
25-29 .. 
1 
23 
10 
30-34 .. 
12 
14 
2 
35-39 
11 
7 
40-44 
2 
14 
2 
1 
45-49 
17 
2 
3 
3 
1 
50-54 
24 
4 
1 
55-59 
30 
2 
2 
2 
60-64 
29 
1 
4 
7 
65-69 
27 
5 
6 
9 
70-74 
34 
11 
6 
12 
75-79 
55 
11 
2 
2 
80-84 
38 
24 
4 
1 
1 
85-89 
47 
23 
12 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
90-94 
38 
47 
9 
2 
1 
2 
1 
95-99 
1 
33 
51 
19 
1 
1 
2 
100-104 
32 
54 
21 
6 
1 
6 
1 
2 
1 
105-109 
1 
21 
81 
11 
9 
6 
2 
2 
1 
3 
1 
110-114 
18 
58 
30 
21 
9 
5 
2 
2 
2 
3 
115-119 
11 
49 
34 
16 
3 
3 
1 
6 
1 
13 
120-124. 
i 
12 
31 
37 
16 
9 
6 
1 
11 
i 
26 
19 The legal minimum size limit in North Caroliift in 1925 is given as 9 inches by Higgins and Pearson (1927, p 49, fig. 8). 
