FOURTEEN TELEOSTEAN FISHES AT BEAUFORT, N. C. 
415 
The data presented in the foregoing paragraph and in Tables 5 and 6 indicate 
that many white perch grow amply large to be sexually mature when 1 year of age, 
as gravid fish only 130 to 140 millimeters (about 5 % inches) in length are common, 
particularly during the latter part of the spawning season. It is not known, how- 
ever, that these fish, although of ample size, actually spawn when only about 1 year 
old. The majority of the fish no doubt are too small to spawn at a year of age and 
quite certainly do not reproduce before they are 2 years old. 
Welsh and Breder (1923, p. 174), working with fish from Beaufort and Chesa- 
peake Bay, arrived at about the same conclusion relative to the rate of growth 
during the first summer, stating that a length of “6 to 14 centimeters (2% to 5 % 
inches)” is attained by the first winter. These authors state, furthermore, “The 
first spawning occurs in the third season when the fish are 2 years old and between 
15 and 21 centimeters in length (6 to 8 / inches).” From scale studies these authors 
conclude, “After the first spawning growth is slow, the largest fish of which scales 
were examined having reached a length of 23 centimeters (9 inches) at the age of 
6 years.” 
Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928, p. 281), working with fish from Chesapeake 
Bay, indicate a somewhat slower rate of growth than the data of the present inves- 
tigation show for Beaufort fish. In September, for example, the range for Chesa- 
peake Bay fish is from 40 to 109 millimeters, whereas the range for Beaufort fish is 
45 to 122 millimeters. In November the range in size for Chesapeake Bay fish is 
given as extending from 76 to 117, while the range for Beaufort examples is 90 to 
143 millimeters (one specimen taken 68 millimeters long). It is quite probable, 
therefore, that the rate of growth, as expected, is a little faster at Beaufort, the more 
southern locality, than in Chesapeake Bay. 
FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS 
The white perch with its terminal and slightly oblique mouth is not marked 
as a bottom feeder to the same extent as the croaker. However, it is shown on a 
preceding page that the fry were taken nearly twice as frequently and more abun- 
dantly on the bottom than at the surface. It is to be expected, therefore, that many 
although not all the forms constituting the food are bottom forms. 
Small white perch, 7 to 20 millimeters long (smaller ones were not examined), as 
shown by the stomach contents of 30 specimens, feed chiefly on copepods, supple- 
mented by ostracods, a few amphipods, cladocera, and an occasional Mysis and 
chaetopod. Somewhat larger fish, 25 to 50 millimeters long, according to the contents 
of 64 stomachs, feed sparingly on copepods, ostracods, isopods, and more abundantly 
on somewhat larger crustaceans, including Mysis, small shrimp, and crabs. Also a 
few chaetopods and mollusks were found. Examples 50 to 80 millimeters long (15 
stomachs examined) had fed very largely on Mysis, shrimp, Gammarus, and chaeto- 
pods. The diet of the last-mentioned group of young does not differ greatly from 
that of adult fish of which 20 specimens were examined, the only difference being that 
the adults had included a few fish (anchovies) in their diet. 
Welsh and Breder (1923, p. 174) list the following forms found in 21 specimens 
taken at Cape Charles, Va., ranging in standard length from 60 to 82 millimeters: 
Schizopods, isopods, amphipods, polychaete worms, fish, and unidentified crustaceans. 
Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928, p. 280) say, “The food of this fish in Chesapeake 
Bay, as shown by the stomach contents of 100 specimens examined, consists very 
