FOURTEEN TELEOSTEAN FISHES AT BEAUFORT, N. C. 
431 
is so small (average about 8.6 inches) that the species has comparatively little com- 
mercial value. The States producing croakers in large quantities, as shown by the 
most recently published statistics of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, are New 
Jersey (2,455,867 pounds in 1926), Maryland (2,602,861 pounds in 1925), Virginia 
(22,649,295 pounds in 1925), and North Carolina (3,932,058 pounds in 1927). Other 
States producing considerable quantities, according to the United States Bureau of 
Fisheries statistics of 1927, are Florida (85,392 pounds), Louisiana (185,642 pounds), 
and Texas (104,098 pounds). 
The maximum size attained by the croaker is about 20 inches, and a weight 
slightly in excess of 4 pounds (Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928, p. 287). Most of 
the croakers marketed at Beaufort are small, belonging to a size known as “pinhead 
croakers” on Chesapeake Bay, ranging from about 7 to 10 inches in length. This is 
the usual size of the croakers taken in the vicinity of Beaufort in strictly salt water. 
Larger fish, with red fins, known locally as red-fin croakers, are taken in brackish to 
fresh water. In general, it may be stated that the croakers, as seen in the markets, 
run smaller in the vicinity of Beaufort than they do at Norfolk and other points on 
Chesapeake Bay. The decrease in the average size attained would appear to become 
more pronounced farther southward, as Pearson (loc. cit.) points out that the croaker 
has comparatively little value in Texas because of the small size attained. A some- 
what similar decrease in size in the more southern parts of the range of the spot is 
pointed out in the section of this paper dealing with that species. 
The croaker is taken at Beaufort virtually throughout the year. It disappears 
from the shallower waters where fishing operations are carried on during cold snaps, 
but it returns as soon as the temperature increases. Although this species is not 
plentiful during the winter and the average size of the individuals is small, they 
bring a fair price because of the scarcity of other fish at that season. The winter 
catches of croakers are of importance not only because they keep the local, as well as 
certain distant markets, supplied with fresh fish at a season when they are scarce, 
but they are of considerable aid to the fishermen and fish dealers who find the winter 
a rather lean season. The largest catches of croakers are made during the spring 
(March, April, and May), when the prices drop. About 15 to 20 years ago the croaker 
was taken in such large quantities in the spring of the year that the dealers were unable 
to find a market for all of them, and at times the fish were wasted. The senior author 
has seen the shores in the bight at Cape Lookout literally covered with dead and 
decaying croakers, usually of rather small size, which the fishermen had sorted from 
their catches and thrown away because they could not sell them. This has not 
happened during recent years, probably largely because of better marketing facilities. 
The croaker generally is considered inferior in flavor to many other species, 
and it seldom commands a fancy price. It is wholesome, however, and it meets a 
demand for a cheap and a nutritious fish. Locally its importance increases, as 
already pointed out, because it may be taken during the winter when other fish 
are scarce. 
Young croakers, ranging from recently hatched larvae only a few millimeters 
long to fish an inch or so in length, are present in the harbor and its arms throughout 
the winter, whereas the larger fish generally are scarce or missing in these shallow 
waters. The croakers that are marketed during the winter, to which reference is 
made in a foregoing paragraph, are caught chiefly with sink nets (that is, gill nets 
that are weighted and sunk to the bottom) set usually in about 6 to 7 fathoms of 
water. 
