DEVELOPMENT AND LIFE HISTORY OF SOME TELEOSTS 
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by larger fish. Gammarus were sparingly eaten by the smaller fish, but abundantly 
by the larger ones. Small mollusks appeared early and continued to be eaten also by 
the larger fish. A few worms were eaten, and also some small decapod crustaceans, 
especially shrimp. 
In addition to the animal foods named filamentous alga was present in such 
abundance in the stomachs of fish ranging from 25 to about 40 mm in length that it 
quite certainly was not taken by accident. Some stomachs, in fact, contained almost 
nothing else. It seems definitely to constitute a part of the food of fish of the size 
range mentioned. Larger fish ate of it more sparingly if at all. 
The food of adults consists chiefly of mollusks and crustaceans which the fish 
find numerous along the breakwaters, piers, wrecks, etc-., where the adult fish live. 
A favorite bait at Beaufort is the fiddlar crab. The teeth of the sheepshead, described 
elsewhere, are well adapted for seizing and crushing these common foods. 
Figure 23.— Growth curve based on length measurements of 612 Archosargus probatocephalus of the 0-class. Solid line, average 
length for each month of all fish measured; dot and dash (upper) line, largest fish; dot and several dashes (lower) line, small- 
est fish. 
GROWTH 
Limited information relative to the rate of growth of the young during the first 
few months of life was obtained, and none for the older ones (fig. 23). After the fish 
leave their early habitat among seaweeds they no longer are obtainable in sufficient 
numbers, without much effort, to follow the rate of growth. 
It seems quite certain that as early as August some of the larger young of the 
season already had deserted their habitat among seaweeds. Therefore, the range at 
the upper limit and consequently the average length, of those taken in the habitat of 
the juveniles no longer give correct information as to the rate of growth. In September 
many young definitely had moved away from their earlier habitat, as the fish had 
become comparatively scarce, though a few remained there nearly all winter. 
The range in length of 46 young taken among seaweed in June from 1926 to 1931, 
is 7 to 25 mm. However, only one specimen, apparently a very fast growing one, 
exceeds a length of 21 mm. The average length of the 46 specimens is 12.8 mm. 
