DEVELOPMENT AND LIFE HISTORY OF SOME TELEOSTS 
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The eggs were often secured in abundance with meter tow nets made of number 
20 bolting silk. They w'ere also obtained several times from the overflow of tanks 
supplied with running water in which gravid fish were confined. Unfortunately the 
eggs secured from fish in captivity never appeared to be fertilized, presumably be- 
cause no ripe males were present. However, these eggs served a very useful purpose, 
as they aided us in positively identifying hogchoker eggs taken in the tow\ 
Hogchoker eggs, indeed, had been taken in the tow by us over a period of several 
summers before their identity became definitely known on June 8, 1929, from a com- 
parison with eggs secured from fish held in confinement. 14 
The more advanced stages of the larvae shown in the accompanying illustrations 
were drawn from fish reared in the laboratory by the junior author. In the rearing 
experiments comparatively large numbers of young were placed in glass evaporating 
dishes having a depth of about 3 inches and a diameter of 8 to 10 inches. Only about 
an inch of water was used in each dish, thus exposing a large surface, in comparison with 
the small amount of water, to the air for absorption of oxygen. No artificial aeration 
was used. To keep the water at a fairly uniform temperature the dishes were partly 
submerged in the large laboratory tanks supplied with running sea water fed from a 
12,000 gallon tank by gravity. 
While the larvae were very small they were fed daily with towings strained 
through number 20 bolting silk. After the fish had gained some growth, towings were 
introduced without straining. Ample time for feeding, that is, an hour or so, was given 
after introducing the towings, and then the fish were removed with a pipette to clean 
dishes supplied with water brought to the laboratory in a clean container directly 
from the laboratory pier. 
SPAWNING 
The spawning season of the hogchoker seems to be a long one, the eggs having 
been obtained from spawning fish held in tanks, as early as May 18 (1931), and as late 
as August 14 (1930). In the tow the eggs were noticed as early as May 20 (1931), and 
as late as August 5 (1928). It is evident, then, that at Beaufort the spawning season 
extends, at least from midspring to midsummer. 
Ripe or nearly ripe fish were taken only in the estuary of Newport River, where 
the eggs also were secured. However, eggs also were taken in several other localities 
within the harbor, as well as at sea as far out as 6 miles off Bogue Banks. Hogchoker 
eggs often were collected in abundance, being among the most numerous fish eggs in 
season. 
Spawning evidently takes place only in the evening, principally from about 6 to 8 
o’clock. It was during that time when the eggs were spawned in the laboratory tanks, 
and it was only in the early evening, as shown by many towings, that eggs in early 
cleavage stages were secured. In addition to the very recently spawned eggs, older 
ones with rather w'ell-developed embryos, extending about two-thirds the distance 
around the periphery of the eggs, were present in the early evening towings. The 
older eggs evidently had been spawned the previous evening, and w r ere about 24 
hours old. 
According to other studies made at Beaufort, partly published b}^ the writers 
(1930) and partly still unpublished, it would seem that early evening spawning is quite 
usual among marine fishes. 
14 Dr. Albert Kuntz, working for the Bureau of Fisheries at Beaufort, N. C., temporarily, secured the eggs, drew up descriptions 
and had sketches of the development of the eggs and early young prepared (unpublished) as early as 1913. However, the eggs were 
not identified. In 1916 Dr. Lewis Radcliffe secured the eggs in Chesapeake Bay, drew up descriptions and some sketches (also un- 
published), which he labeled “hogchoker.” How he arrived at the tentative conclusion is not evident from his notes. 
154979—38 9 
