598 
FOREST AND STREAM 
December, 1917 
BLUEFISH—THE BRIGANDS OF THE SEA 
NOTHING SMALLER THAN HIMSELF IS SAFE FROM HIS MURDEROUS JAWS, AND MANY 
FISHERMEN TESTIFY HE CAN HOLD HIS OWN AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, INCLUDING MAN 
By LEONARD HULIT, Associate Editor of FOREST AND STREAM 
T HE natural history of the Bluefish is 
perhaps one of the most interesting of 
any of the ocean tribes. So diversi¬ 
fied are its movements, and so important 
its relations to all the fishes which have a 
range in common with it, as well as its 
economic importance to man, as to make it 
a character unique and distinct. 
And yet while we have records of its 
presence on our coast as early as 1672 and 
it has been in our waters in more or less 
abundance since that time, many of its 
habits remain a profound mystery to us 
and seem past finding out. 
Strange as it may appear, its time and 
place of spawning have never been clear¬ 
ly established. While claims have been set 
up and much written and oral argument 
spent over the matter, later the very claim 
which appeared to hold the best would be 
disproved, and so the matter is still one 
of doubt. That it must be at sea, and 
somewhere off the middle Atlantic States, 
would seem reasonable if we are to be 
guided by the fact that in July or early in 
August the young fish of from three to 
four inches in length appear simultaneous¬ 
ly in the inlets of all the bays and rivers 
from Massachusetts to the Delaware Capes. 
This would indicate that the fry is hatched 
at sea, and that nature’s promptings send 
them shoreward to the sheltered waters 
away from the larger fish as well as to 
more easily obtain food. 
It is also susceptible of strong argument ' 
from the fact of their appearing at the 
same time on the coast in several degrees 
of latitude that their first movements are 
from the eastward, and not parallel to the 
coast as would be the case if they were 
observed earlier at one point than another. 
Another fact which would indicate this 
to be true is the fact that the mature fish 
in the early runs taken from near the coast 
rarely or never contain spawn, while those 
taken far at sea are often ripe with it. 
It is almost a world wide wanderer and 
apparently has no limit save in Arctic 
waters. It is met with in nearly all the 
temperate and semi-tropical waters, and 
where met with it usually is quite abund¬ 
ant. Australia, Cape Horn, and Madagas¬ 
car receive visits from it and in the water 
of the Mediterranean it is most abundant, 
but seldom reaches the waters of western 
Europe. While it is much in the waters 
of the Gulf of Mexico, still it does not 
make its presence known near the coast. 
On a visit to these waters the writer 
went particularly into this question with 
those who should know both among the 
market men and the sporting fraternity, 
and was informed the above was true. 
G'ne particularly intelligent angler in¬ 
formed me that it was indeed a rare oc¬ 
currence to have one strike the hook; 
while he had taken a few, it was some¬ 
times years between catches. This partic¬ 
ularly pertains to the western waters of 
the Gulf. Another peculiar fact is that 
they are, according to close observers, 
never seen in Bermudan waters. This 
seems most strange; as it would appear to 
be directly in the line of their wander¬ 
ings, but owing to food conditions doubt¬ 
less, or some other instinct with which all 
the fauna of creation is endowed, they 
make their own choice. 
At this point I ask a moment for di¬ 
gression. I have before me as I write this 
two authorities who claim that the Blue¬ 
fish is never taken off the coast of Flor¬ 
ida. This is most ridiculous; and dis¬ 
closes how prone human nature is to ques¬ 
tion any subject with which it is not fa¬ 
miliar, or rather to hold forth that what 
has been an individual experience must be 
the experience of all. While I do not 
question the sincerity of the gentlemen as 
to what they may have not seen, still it is 
a matter of such common knowledge that 
at times these fish do fairly swarm in 
Florida waters, that such statements are 
most misleading and should be used with 
caution. I have taken them in abundance 
along the Ormond coast and seen them 
so plentiful that the waters were seeming¬ 
ly alive with them, and at Fort Pierce a 
large fishery is maintained devoted largely 
to the taking of these fish. While it is 
true that the large specimens are rare 
at this point, never meeting with the 
really big fellows, still the fish of from 
three to five pounds are most abundant. 
That the Bluefish is capable of hold¬ 
ing its own against all enemies in¬ 
cluding man would seem evident. While 
it is true that there are seasons when 
they are not so plentiful at a given 
point as at other times, yet they usually 
return, and there appears to be no dimi¬ 
nution to their numbers. Indeed there 
are localities along our own coast from 
which they have entirely disappeared for 
several seasons in succession, yet were 
found to be plentiful in other places. 
The Bluefish is regarded as mature at 
five pounds from which weight they range 
to ten or twelve pounds. Occasionally 
specimens of twenty pounds are met with, 
one of nineteen pounds having been taken 
off the beach at Manasquan during the 
season of 1916 with rod and reel. 
Someone has facetiously remarked that 
“human nature is a queer Dick” and as 
if to make good that assertion I quote the 
following from a letter in which the 
writer says he has met with bluefish far 
out at sea which would average forty 
pounds each. This is not reassuring, in¬ 
asmuch as he states that thirty of them 
would fill a barrel. He either overesti¬ 
mated the weight of his fish or the ca¬ 
pacity of his barrel. 
Of the voracity of the Bluefish there is 
no parallel among our coast fishes. He 
is a veritable “chopping machine” of the 
most pronounced type, nothing smaller 
than himself is safe from his jaws. 
T O an observer who is not swayed 
by pity, a full view of a school 
of these corsairs of the sea 
when they strike a school of Menha¬ 
den is an interesting sight and one 
never to be forgotten. Frequently they 
strike on the outer edge like well drilled 
soldiers and soon have the helpless victims 
swimming in a circle, when with snapping 
jaws, they cut to pieces as if by machin¬ 
ery the majority of the school; and even 
when gorged with food they seem to wan¬ 
tonly cut and destroy any small fish which 
comes in their way. I have witnessed this 
carnage until it was sickening, as the water 
would soon take on the appearance of 
bloody froth as it was churned by the 
lashing of their tails. No one who has 
not actually witnessed the sight can con¬ 
ceive of the rapacity of the attack. Be¬ 
fore the days of the “pound nets” along 
the coast it was a frequent sight to see 
