70 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
Photograph by H. Armstrong Roberts 
LANDING A SIX-POUND WEAKFISH, OR SQUETEAGUE, IN BARNEGAT BAY, NEW JERSEY 
The Weakfish did not get its name from any lack of gameness, but rather from the softness of its 
mouth parts. At the end of a line and rod of sportsmanlike proportions it can give the fisherman who 
hooks it a battle that calls for all the resources of skill to bring it to the landing net. 
Fish culture as applied to this species has richly 
justified itself. A number of small Striped Bass were 
taken from the Atlantic to the Pacific and placed in 
West Coast rivers over a quarter of a century 
ago. Today there are many millions of them in 
Pacific waters. 
The catch of this species in Atlantic waters 
reaches nearly 2,000,000 pounds annually. On the 
Pacific Coast the annual catch amounts to about 
1,000,000 pounds. 
SEA BASS (Centropristes striatus) 
{For illustration see Color Plate^ -page yj) 
Feeding upon Crabs, Shrimps, small fish and 
Squids, the Sea Bass usually spends its time moving 
about sluggishly on the floor of the coastal waters or 
lying among loose stones and in rock cavities. It is 
found from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Jackson¬ 
ville, Florida. Its region of greatest abundance 
extends from Montauk Point, Long Island, to 
North Carolina, and it is rare north of Nantucket, 
Massachusetts. 
While Sea Bass weighing as high as 7P2 pounds 
have been taken, the average size of those landed 
is around 2 pounds. As a food fish it takes high 
rank, its flesh being distinguished alike for its 
flakiness and sweetness. 
The spawning time of this species occurs in May 
and June. 
The family Serranidae, to which the Sea Bass 
belongs, is one made up of a large number of species. 
BLUEFISH (Pomatomus saltatrix) 
{For illustration see Color Plate, page pp) 
The Bluefish can boast of being in a class all by 
itself. It constitutes a family with a single species. 
