PISHES OF THE NORTHERN COAST OF NEW JERSEY. 
375 
The fishermen speak of the “ genuine butter-fish,” which is of a yellow color, is 
very scarce, and weighs about one-fourth of a pound. _ It is doubtless a pompano 
( Trachinotus). 
27. Centropristis striatus (Linnaeus). Sea Bass. 
This fish is taken in the pound nets early in the season, May being the month in 
which the largest lifts are made. As the water becomes warmer the fish begins to 
move offshore; in June the yield is much reduced, and after that time the fish is rarely 
taken in nets. It approaches the shores again in the cold months, after the nets are 
taken up, and remains in the inshore waters until the following spring. The sea bass 
is one of the best fish caught in pound nets early in the season, and the prices received 
are usually high, often reaching 8 cents a pound and rarely getting below 3 cents. 
Next to the bluefish, the sea bass is the most important fish taken in the line fish- 
eries of this coast. Menhaden is the principal bait used by the commercial fishermen, 
but in sport fishing clams, crabs, and minnows are also employed. 
There is a certain relation between the abundance of bluefish and the scarcity of 
sea bass on this coast. Both species occur at the same season and are taken on the 
same grounds with the same apparatus. In 1890 bluefish were abundant and sea bass 
were scarce, more than three-fourths of the catch consisting of the former species; in 
1892 there was a scarcity of bluefish and an abundance of sea bass, and in some 
localities up to the last of August almost the entire catch was sea bass. 
The monthly catch of sea bass in one pound net in 1891 and two nets in 1892, set 
off Monmouth County, was as follows: 
Months. 
1891 
(1 net). 
1892 
(2 nets). 
April 
Pounds. 
35 
Pounds. 
50 
May 
1,443 
4, 195 
June 
48 
288 
July 
29 
Total 
1, 526 
4,562 | 
28. Roccus lineatus (Bloch). Striped bass; Rockfish; Rock. 
Rarely taken in the pound nets, but common iu the bays and rivers, where it is 
caught with gill nets and seines. 
29. Lutjanus blackfordt Goode & Beau. Red Snapper. 
This fish is casually taken in the pound nets. In 1892 Mr. L. C. Thompson, of 
Spring Lake, secured four or five weighiug about 1£ pounds each. Mr. Thompson 
had previously caught this fish in Florida and was familiar with it. 
30. Archosargus probatocephalus (Walbaum). Sheepshead. 
A very highly esteemed but not especially abundant species. In the pound nets 
the largest numbers are taken in June and about the 20th of that month. Very large 
lifts are rarely made, as the fish do not appear to go in extensive schools. Fifty fish 
were taken at one lift in June, 1891, at Bradley Beach, which was considered a very 
large catch, although as many as 150 fish have been occasionally taken. The yield 
