564 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
eluded, therefore, that young Microgobius are decidedly more numerous in Beaufort 
Harbor and adjacent sounds and estuaries than they are off Beaufort Inlet. 
In about an equal number of surface and bottom hauls Microgobius was taken at 
the surface 13 times and on the bottom 45 times. Young Microgobius, like the adults, 
therefore, are primarily bottom dwelling. With respect to distribution over time, a 
few young appeared in the catches in March, April, and May, they become rather 
numerous in June, and abundant in July, August, and September; only a few were 
taken in October and November, and none from December to February. 
GROWTH 
1 
The largest young of the season were caught in September and had reached a 
length of 32 mm. It seems quite certain that such individuals will reach an adult size 
of 40 to 50 mm, and sexual maturity, during their second summer. However, some of 
the young taken with the large ones mentioned are only about 5.0 mm long. It seems 
doubtful that such individuals will attain an adult size and sexual maturity before their 
third summer. It may be concluded, therefore, that some of the larger and faster- 
growing individuals certainly reach an adult size and sexual maturity during their 
second summer when about a year old. Others almost certainly are not full grown, nor 
sexually mature, before their third summer. 
Figure 55 . — Gobiontllus boleosoma. From an adult 34 mm long. 
LOCAL SPECIES OF GOBIONELLUS 
A single species of Gobionellus, namely, boleosoma, heretofore has been recorded 
from the coast of North Carolina. This fish was assigned to Ctenogobius stigmaticus 
by Smith in “The Fishes of North Carolina” (1907, p. 365). However, Ginsburg 
(1932, p. 23) in an exhaustive study of extensive collections in the Bureau of Fisheries 
and the National Museum failed to find stigmaticus north of Florida This investi- 
gator assigned the common Atlantic coast species of scaled goby (which ranges from 
North Carolina at least as far south as Panama) to boleosoma and places it in the 
genus Gobionellus. Mr. Ginsburg’s nomenclature has been adopted by the present 
writers. Attention is called to the fact that Smith’s illustration (loc. cit., fig. 167) is 
not correct for boleosoma. The figure probably represents an entirely different species. 
Accordingly, a drawing of an adult based on a specimen from Beaufort has been 
prepared (fig. 55). 
A few representatives of a second species of Gobionellus, namely, shufeldti, 
recently were taken in fresh water in Newport River. 6. shufeldti according to 
Ginsburg (1932, p. 14) differs from boleosoma: (a) In having one or more rows of scales 
on the median line of the back in advance of the first dorsal (in one specimen from 
Beaufort, assigned to this species, however, the median line of the back is naked as in 
boleosoma) ; ( b ) in having a slightly higher average number of rays in the dorsal and anal 
