430 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
to present which would show when sexual maturity is reached. However, the data 
in Table 7 show that a considerable percentage of the fish of the I class have 
reached a length as great as 190 to 200 millimeters (7.6 to 8 inches) in April. It 
seems certain that fish of this size will have grown amply large by the following 
December, January, or February to be spawning fish. It may be concluded, there- 
fore, that at least some of the spots spawn at Beaufort when 2 years old. 
Comparatively little is known of the duration of life of the spot, and the present 
authors have little to add. Welsh and Breder (1923, p. 179) took a spot in New 
Jersey 11% inches long which had attained an age, as shown by winter rings on the 
scales, of 4% years, and they found many that were 3 years old. Pearson (1929, 
p. 209), on the other hand, found few fish in Texas over 2 years old; and he concludes, 
“* * * few fish reach an age of over 2 years in Texas coastal waters.” The 
writers have reason to believe, as shown elsewhere (p. 429) that the bulk of the com- 
mercial catches made at Beaufort consists of fish not less than 3 years old, but they 
have no information relative to the greatest age that may be attained. 
FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS 
The small inferior mouth at once indicates that the spot is a bottom feeder 
and that it subsists on rather small objects. An examination of the stomach con- 
tents shows this to be the case. Published accounts (Breder and Welsh, 1923, p. 
179, and Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928, p. 272) show that this fish feeds very 
largely on small crustaceans, principally amphipods and ostracods, and also on 
minute mollusks, annelid worms, fish, and vegetable d6bris. 
The published records, apparently, are based on fish that had attained a length 
of upward of 2 inches, and many of the specimens examined were adult. In the 
present investigation 135 stomachs of small specimens ranging from 15 to 100 milli- 
meters (% of an inch to 4 inches) in length were examined. The smallest specimens, 
or until a length of about 25 millimeters was attained, had fed wholly on small crus- 
taceans, principally copepods with comparatively few ostracods. Thereafter, detri- 
tal material occurred in the stomachs in increasing abundance, apparently supple- 
menting the previous diet which consisted of small crustaceans. After the detrital 
material appeared in the stomachs minute mollusks and annelid worms also were 
taken. In the detrital material, fragments or shreds of plants frequently were 
noticed and the relatively large amount of sand present — sometimes constituting 
fully 50 per cent of the contents — appears to be worthy of note. 
The appearance of detritus in the stomachs when the fish has reached a length 
of about 25 millimeters, coincides quite accurately with the time when the schools 
of young spot, frequently seen during the winter and early spring in quiet coves, 
appear to break up and disappear. It is at this size, when the previously oblique 
terminal mouth has become inferior, as in the adult, that the fish is ready to begin 
feeding on the bottom and to subsist essentially on those foods that will furnish 
nourishment during the remainder of its life. 
MICROPOGON UNDULATUS (Linnaeus). Croaker; Hardhead 
The croaker is known from Massachusetts to Texas and is of sufficient com- 
mercial importance to be listed separately in the statistical reports of the United 
States Bureau of Fisheries from all the border States from New York to Texas. In 
Massachusetts it is occasionally taken at Cape Cod (Welsh and Breder, 1923, p. 180), 
and in Texas it is common, but the size attained, according to Pearson (1929, p. 203), 
