FOURTEEN TELEOSTEAN FISHES AT BEAUFORT, N. C. 
481 
just begun, whereas in an 1 1 -millimeter specimen, and larger ones, it has been com- 
pleted. (Fig. 96.) 
Specimens 35 millimeters long . — The fish has acquired virtually all the characters 
of the adult at this size. It is proportionately more slender, the depth being con- 
tained about 3.5 times in the length, whereas in the adult the depth is contained in 
the length about 3.0 times. The differences between fish 13 to 35 millimeters long 
are not pronounced. It is evident, however, that the rays in the anterior part of 
the dorsal and anal fins have become more crowded in the larger specimens and the 
characteristic dark bars of the smaller fish sometimes, although not always, become 
quite indefinite. Considerable variations in color are evident, however, in fish of 
this size and larger ones; some specimens being quite plain brownish gray, others 
paler gray, and some are without spots or bars, whereas others are indefinitely barred 
and variously specked or spotted. Fish 35 millimeters in length, and even smaller 
ones, are readily recognized by anyone familiar with the adult. (Fig. 97.) 
DISTRIBUTION OF YOUNG 
Small fry, 5 millimeters and under in length, were taken in only 2 collections 
made within the harbor, whereas they occur in 46 collections made off Beaufort 
Inlet, some of the stations at which the collections were made being as much as 12 
to 15 miles offshore. Somewhat larger fish were taken a little more frequently 
within the harbor, but they remain more numerous at sea. It may be concluded 
from the distribution of the fry that spawning takes place principally at sea. 
Young fish ranging from about 10 to 75 millimeters in length are few in our 
collection, very probably because of the method of collecting. Fish of this size are 
too big to be caught readily in 1 -meter townets, yet too small to be held by the 
ordinary collecting trawl. A method of collecting fish of this size was not developed 
until toward the close of the investigation. The fish of these larger sizes contained 
in the collection, with a single exception, were taken within the harbor. It must 
not be concluded, however, that these young are more numerous in the harbor than 
at sea, as much less collecting with the recentty devised apparatus was done at sea 
than within the harbor. The data do show, however, that the larger sizes (10 to 75 
millimeters) are more common within the harbor and adjacent estuaries than the 
smaller ones. 
The adult tonguefish, of course, is strictly a bottom-dwelling form. It is evi- 
dent from the townet collections at hand that the young, too, live almost entirely 
on or near the bottom, for in an approximately equal number of drags made with 
two 1-meter townets, hauled simultaneously, one at the surface and the other one 
