ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
147 
THE SHEEPSHEAD MINNOW 
An interesting little native salt water fish. 
Photograph by Dr. E. Bade 
caught to warrant the expense. Lobsters cannot 
be kept long on ice after death like fish, and the 
live-cars are absolutely essential if the lobsters 
are to be kept for any length of time in a mar¬ 
ketable condition. These crates are built of 
narrow boards or heavy laths. They are rec¬ 
tangular in shape, about four by two by two 
feet with a hinged cover on top. They are 
weighted with brick so as to sink them to the 
bottom, and are farther secured by several small 
anchors attached to them by fairly long lines. 
These live-cars are located in the more sheltered 
parts of the bay, and their position marked by 
certain ranges on shore known only to their 
owners. When desiring to raise one of them, the 
fisherman runs his boat to the approximate lo¬ 
cation of the car, then slows down and using 
his grapple engages one of the anchor lines by 
means of which he hauls it to the surface. 
As in all other forms of fishing, the average 
catch is a difficult thing to ascertain. Seven to 
fifteen hundred pounds for a single haul of two 
hundred pots, while being considered very good, 
is by no means uncommon. To be sure, much of 
the time no such hauls are made. Twenty thou¬ 
sand pounds per boat working one hundred full 
days, is perhaps nearest the true amount. By 
“full days” are meant those days on which a 
majority of the pots can be attended to, the 
work not being unduly interrupted by squalls, 
lack of bait, etc. The lobsters seem to move slow¬ 
ly from the sandy areas in shore in summer, to 
the muddy areas and deeper water off shore as 
the temperature of the water falls in autumn. 
When shedding, the lobster being defenseless, 
has to lie hidden and quiescent until his shell 
hardens again. The law 
prohibits the taking of lob¬ 
sters under ten and one-half 
inches in length, measured 
from one extremity of the 
body to the other and ex¬ 
cluding the claws. These 
“shorts” as they are called, 
form a considerable per¬ 
centage of the catch and 
destroy as much bait as 
those of a legal size, but as 
they must be thrown over¬ 
board, they are far from 
forming an asset. As nearly 
as can be ascertained, the 
total catch for the Lower 
Bay during 1921, amounted 
to 1,250/100 pounds, bring¬ 
ing the lobstermen $287,- 
560.00. 
As many of the men are foreigners and seem 
rather unwilling to give exact figures, the fol¬ 
lowing is offered as an approximate expense per 
boat for a season of one hundred working days: 
Bait . $150.00 
Gasoline and Oil . 150.00 
Marketing .. 260.00 
Depreciation and Loss.... 1,000.00 
Interest on Investment. . . . 120.00 
$1,680.00 
The average catch per boat per season is 
20,000 pounds, worth $5,000 to the fisherman, 
in other words a profit of $3,200 to be divided 
between two men. At present it would not pay 
a man to start lobstering, the competition al¬ 
ready being too keen, but as the more inefficient 
men drop out, together with those who were at¬ 
tracted by the war prices offered for their catch, 
those remaining will again make a good living 
by their industry. 
ITEMS OF INTEREST 
The Sheepshead Minnow .—The sheepshead 
minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus ), also called 
sheepshead lebias, is familiar to many as a 
brackish water species and one of the most 
charming of small native fishes, averaging about 
two inches in length. Though not so abundant 
as the killifish, it is found in company with the 
latter, from November to March, in creeks and 
marsh lands as far north as Cape Cod, and 
readily adapts itself to conditions in the salt 
water balanced aquarium. There is even an 
occasional rumor of its thriving in fresh-water 
aquaria. 
