160 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
Forest and Stream , June 25, 1874, stated that L. Hathaway, Esq., a 
veteran fisherman, while fishing from the bridge at Cohasset Narrows, 
Mass., with rod and reel, captured a Bluefish weighing twenty-five pounds. 
The largest previously caught weighed seventeen pounds. 
On getting back to the Carolina coast in the early part of November, ac¬ 
cording to Dr. Yarrow’s statement, they are from three to five feet in length 
and weigh from ten to twenty pounds. What becomes of these large fish, 
that so few of them are seen in the early spring, it is impossible to say. 
If it be really true that they are much scarcer than in the fall, we may 
infer that their increased size makes them a more ready prey to the larger fish 
and cetaceans, or that they have accomplished their ordinary period of 
life ; possibly that they have broken up into smaller parties, less conspicu¬ 
ous to observation, or that they have materially changed their locality. 
The average length of the fish that appear in the spring off the coast of 
Virginia and the southern part of New Jersey, according to Dr. Coues, 
Dr. Yarrow and Prof. Baird, is about one foot, being probably about one 
year old. As a general rule, those of the smaller size keep close to 
the shore and can always be met with, while the larger ones go in schools 
and remain farther outside. 
Prof. Baird obtained no very young fish at Woods Holl in 1871, the 
smallest found making their appearance quite suddenly along the coast, 
especially in the little bays, about the middle of August, and then 
measuring about five by one and one-fifth inches. By the end of Septem¬ 
ber, however, these had reached a length of seven or eight inches, and at 
the age of about a year they probably constitute the twelve or fourteen 
inch fish referred to as occurring along the southern coast. The fish of 
the third year, or those two years old, are possibly the three-pound fish, 
while the five to seven pound fish may be considered a year older still. 
Accurate observations are wanting, however, to determine these facts; 
as also whether they require two years, or three or more, to attain suffi¬ 
cient maturity for breeding. As far as I know, there is no appreciable 
difference between the sexes in their rate of growth or weight, excepting 
that the female is likely to be a little deeper in the body. 
A Bluefish weighing one pound measures about fourteen inches ; two 
pounds, seventeen inches ; three pounds, twenty-one inches ; four pounds, 
twenty-four inches ; five pounds, twenty-six inches ; six pounds, twenty- 
six to twentv-seven inches, and eight pounds, twenty-nine inches. 
