THE BLUE FISH. 
I 55 
the average of their captures, there still remains an appalling aggregate 
of destruction. While the smallest Bluefish feed upon the diminutive fry, 
those of which we have taken account capture fish of large size, many of 
them, if not capable of reproduction, being within at least one or two 
years of that period. 
“ It is estimated by very good authority that of the spawn deposited by 
any fish at a given time not more than thirty per cent, are hatched, and 
that less than ten per cent, attain an age when they are able to take care 
of themselves. As their age increases, the chances of reaching maturity 
become greater and greater. It is among the small residuum of this class 
that the agency of the Bluefish is exercised, and whatever reasonable 
reduction may be made in our estimate, we cannot doubt that they exert 
a material influence. 
“ The rate of growth of the Bluefish is also an evidence of the immense 
amount of food they must consume. The young fish which first appear 
along the shores of Vineyard Sound, about the middle of August, are about 
five inches in length. By the beginning of September, however, they 
have reached six or seven inches, and on their reappearance in the second 
year they measure about twelve or fifteen inches. After this they increase 
in a still more rapid ratio. A fish which passes eastward from Vineyard 
Sound in the spring, weighing five pounds, is represented, according to 
the general impression, by the ten to fifteen pound fish of the autumn. If 
this be the fact, the fish of three or four pounds which pass along the 
coast of North Carolina in March return to it in October weighing ten to 
fifteen pounds. 
“As already explained, the relationship of these fish to the other 
inhabitants of the sea is that of an unmitigated butcher; and it is able to 
contend successfully with any other species not superior to itself in size. 
It is not known whether an entire school ever unite in an attack upon a 
particular object of prey, as is said to be the case with the ferocious fishes 
of the South American rivers ; should they do so, no animal, however 
large, could withstand their onslaught. 
“ They appear to eat anything that swims of suitable size—fish of all 
kinds, but perhaps more especially the menhaden, which they seem to fol¬ 
low along the coast, and which they attack with such ferocity as to drive 
them on the shore, where they are sometimes piled up in windrows to the 
depth of a foot or more. 
