412 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
working at Beaufort in 1913 says, “The height of the spawning season of Bairdiella 
chrysura occurs during the last week of June and the first week of July.” This has 
not been the case during the four seasons (1926-1929) over which our observations 
extend, for each year spawning was just about over by the end of June, as shown 
by the scarcity of gravid fish in the catches examined, by the scarcity of eggs in 
the tow, and by the absence of fry under 5 millimeters in length in our collections 
for the month of July. According to our data the most prolific spawning in the white 
perch takes place during the last half of May and early in June. 
Welsh and Breder (1923, p. 171) state that in New Jersey this fish spawns in 
June, July, and August and the height of the spawning season is reached in June. 
Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928, p. 282), working with the fishes of Chesapeake 
Bay, found ripe fish, trawled in 12 fathoms of water off Crisfield, Md., as early as 
May 16, and many of the fish were spawned out by June 11. These authors make 
the general statement that in Chesapeake Bay spawning takes place “in the late 
spring and early summer.” 
During the height of the spawning season the eggs are very numerous in the 
vicinity of Beaufort and frequently may be taken in large numbers in surface nets. 
The eggs, as well as the fry, occur in collections made at this time within the harbor 
and adjacent estuaries and sounds, also along the outside shores and at collecting 
stations as far as 12 to 15 miles (beyond which collecting was not extended) off 
Beaufort Inlet, indicating that spawning takes place within the harbor, the estuaries 
and sounds, and also for some distance out at sea. The eggs are small, averaging 
only about 0.68 millimeter in diameter, and are produced in large numbers, as the 
nearly ripe ovaries are so large that they cause a very pronounced expansion of the 
abdominal walls. A female from Chesapeake Bay, only 140 millimeters (5.6 inches) 
long, contained approximately 52,800 eggs (Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928, p. 28). 
Larger examples no doubt produce a correspondingly greater number. 
DEVELOPMENT OF EGGS AND LARWE 
The development of the eggs and larvae is quite fully discussed by Kuntz (1914 
pp. 4-13), to which the reader is referred for information on this subject. It is 
sufficient to state here that Doctor Kuntz’s work has been checked by the present 
authors and found substantially correct. Because of the similarity of the eggs of 
the white perch and the pigfish and, furthermore, because their eggs often are taken 
together in towings (for the spawning periods overlap) the difference between the 
eggs of the two species are pointed out and discussed in that section of this paper 
dealing with the pigfish. 
DISTRIBUTION OF YOUNG 
The fry, like the eggs, occur within the harbor and adjacent w r aters and at sea 
off Beaufort Inlet as far out (12 to 15 miles) as the collecting was extended. Accord- 
ing to the frequency of the fry in the towings, they are more numerous at sea than in 
the inside waters. Although the fry were taken at the surface, they appear to be on 
the bottom more commonly, for in an approximately equal number of hauls made 
with two 1-meter townets, hauled simultaneously at the surface and on the bottom, 
the fry occurred in 12 surface hauls and in 23 bottom ones. Furthermore, the bottom 
towings generally contained more specimens than the surface hauls. 
Young white perch, like young pigfish, as stated elsewhere in this paper, are 
present in grassy areas within the harbor at an early age, or when a length of about 
