PROMINENT SPECIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS 
69 
netting, permitting easy ingress, but closed against 
exit. The traps are sunk on Lobster-frequented 
grounds and baited usually with pieces of stale 
fish. The European Lobster is nearly always sent 
to market in the fresh state, while many of those 
caught in American waters are canned. The 
European variety seldom reaches a weight of lo 
pounds, while those of our shores occasionally weigh 
as much as 25 pounds. The largest one ever taken, 
according to the records, weighed 34 pounds. 
Prominent Species of the Middle Atlantic 
Coastal Waters 
Out of the waters ot Chesapeake Bay and the 
Middle Atlantic coast from the Carolinas to Cape 
Cod come annually thousands of tons of well 
flavored fish for American tables. No fish as staple 
as the Cod of the Grand Banks and no fighter that 
quite ranks with the Tarpon of Florida waters, 
is found along the middle coast, but none the 
less, its representatives are leading favorites in the 
big markets of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia 
and New York and scores of smaller inland places 
to which they are shipped daily in refrigerator cars. 
Three familiar varieties alone, the Squeteague or 
Weakfish, Striped Bass, and Bluefish, provide about 
21,000,000 pounds of food annually. The gamy 
Squeteague, which ranks chief in quantity, is well 
and favorably known to the sport fisherman and 
will put up an excellent fight when hooked either 
in deep water or in the surf. 
With the cold waters of the Labrador Current 
and the Gulf Stream’s edge fusing along the Middle 
Atlantic coast, the fishes of this section have appar¬ 
ently adapted themselves to temperature change. 
Thus the Striped Bass and Mullet are found all up 
and down the east coast, but the chief quantities for 
market come from the Middle Atlantic region. The 
Bluefish, found in nearly all ocean waters, is obtained 
for American markets chiefly on fishing grounds 
from Long Island to Florida. Sea Bass, Kingfish 
or Northern Whiting, Sheepshead, and Bonito, are 
also among the “first families’’ of the Middle 
Atlantic coast species and much can be said for 
them, from the standpoint of both sport and table. 
SQUETEAGUE (Cynoscion regalis) 
{For illustration see Color Plate, page J2) 
The Squeteague, also known as the Common 
Weakfish, is caught in large numbers along the 
Atlantic Coast between Massachusetts and Florida. 
In North Carolina it is found almost throughout 
the year, but is most abundant from early spring to 
late fall. 
It first appears in large schools in April and May, 
appearing in various bays and sounds along the 
Atlantic Coast. A little later part of the fish 
migrate to the ocean to spawn and part accomplish 
spawning in the larger bays such as the Chesapeake. 
In the Chesapeake Bay region the first run of fish 
appears between April i and May i, according to 
the water temperature. A heavy run of fish occurs 
until June. During the summer catches of corn- 
mercial proportion decrease somewhat, yet, again 
in October good catches are made—especially of 
large fish. The last of the fish leave the Bay by 
about December i, and are not found throughout 
the winter. 
In this case spawning occurs from May to July, 
depending somewhat upon the latitude. Gravid 
males are frequently found until late August. The 
spawning takes place on the bottom; but as soon as 
the eggs are extruded and fertilized they float to 
the surface, and are carried about by the tidal 
currents until hatched. 
While there are authentic records of Squeteague 
weighing 18 pounds being taken, and fisherman’s 
stories of thirty pound ones, fish weighing as much 
as 12 pounds and measuring as long as 33 inches 
are uncommon. 
Little is known about the migratory habits of the 
Squeteague. Whether it seeks warmer waters in 
its summer latitudes in . the depths of the Gulf 
Stream or finds them in the southern ocean, is not 
known definitely to science. 
In southern waters this species is known as the 
Sea Trout, or Gray Trout. 
The annual catch of Squeteague in Atlantic 
waters ranges around 15,000,000 pounds. 
A closely related species, the Spotted Squeteague, 
is an abundant and valuable fish found along the 
South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 
STRIPED BASS (Roccus lineatus) 
{For illustration see Color Plate, page pk) 
This striking denizen of middle Atlantic waters 
has a range reaching from the St. Lawrence, in 
Canada, to Mobile Bay, Alabama; but in com¬ 
mercial quantity is most common between Long 
Island and Cape Hatteras. It ascends fresh water to 
spawn and is particularly common in brackish bays 
and rivers where it may be found throughout the 
year. 11 is equally at home in the sea where it spends 
a good part of its life. Its migrations differ from 
those of Shad, as the Striped Bass hibernates over 
the winter season and is found at this’time in the lower 
Potomac River, and other suitable waters. There is a 
definite spring run when spawning takes place, but 
it may be caught throughout the year in Chesapeake 
Bay and Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. 
As many as 1500, it is reported, have been taken 
at a single haul of a large seine. There are records 
of individuals being caught that tipped the scale’s 
beam at 125 pounds. Heavy fishing, however, has 
changed all of this, so that a weight of 75 pounds is 
now rarely achieved. Most of the market catch 
weighs between i and 15 pounds, but fish weighing 
from 25 to 60 pounds are not unusual. 
The Striped Bass is a rather long-lived fish. 
Several two year old specimens placed in the tanks 
of the New York Aquarium, when it was opened, 
lived there for sixteen years and one survived 
nineteen years. 
