The record-union., 1898-10-13
MYSTERY OF THE SHAD.
Nothing Known of the Fish After
It Leaves Our Rivers.

Delaware Shad have always Deen
looked upon, by Philadelphians paItic-
ularly, as the finest favored fish of the
kind taken from any river in the IN
ion. Therefore epicures will welcome
the announcement that the Shad is now
beginning it's annual entry into the
Delaware and that few made their
appearance last week in the city mar
ket. The movements of the shad are
of much interest and more mystery 10
ichthyologists and fish culturists. Be
yonS the period when the fish is in the
river almost absolutely nothing is
known of it's habits. It belongs to 4
class known as anadromous fishes
that is. those whose home is in the sea,
but who come into fresh water to
spawn. From the time the egg is de-
posted to the time the fish reaches ma
turity and becomes spaWner there is
a period of three years, and the first
five or six months of this only are spent
in fresh water.
When the water of the Delaware in
the spring reaches a temperature OF oo
degrees or over the shad enter from the
sea in great shoals, the males first ana
the females about two weeks later. 1t
was supposed for some years that the
males entered first in order to find suit
able nesting places, but this assump-
ton is now known to be false from the
discovery that the shad does not make
nest. as many other species of fish
do and the real reason for their APP
nearing first must remain, for the pres
emf at least, as one of the mysteries
which surround the movements of this
fine food fish
The spawning grounds of the shad
are the large pools in the Delaware
above Trenton to the headWaters, and
it is for this reason that the erection
of dams in the river would destroy the
fisheries in very few years. 1t is true
that there are also spawning grounds
at the head of Timber Creek and few
other streams below Trenton tributary
to the Delaware, but they are of very
small extent, and could not begin 10
accommodate the number of fish which
come in from the sea every year. The
average female shad deposits about
10000 eggs, although a very large one
may deposit anywhere from 10000 to
10000 eggs. OF these it is estimated
that not more than 10 per cent. are
Matched. the remainder either not be-
ing fertilized or else are destroyed by
the many other fish in the river. OF
those left it is estimated that 80 per
cent. are devoured. Thus out of 10000
eggs laid only about twenty-five or
thirty young fish reach the sea in
safety 1t is in the Matching of shad
that man outdoes nature, for out CT
every 10000 eggs man, by artificial
methods, can cause 80 per cent to be
Matched, against the 10 per cent. of
nature The young artificially Matched
must be placed almost Immediately in
the natural breeding grounds, and as
Stunning that 80 per cent. of these little
creatures will be devoured by larger
fish. there will still remain 2,100 to
reach the sea, against twenty-five or
thirty by natural Matching. 1t may be
stated here that in consequence of the
greatly increased demand within the
last few years. if it were not for the
artificial Matching, the shad would by
this time have almost disappeared from
the Delaware and from all other
streams for that matter.
After Matching the young shad grow
very rapidly, feeding on small flies and
water animaculae. By September they |
are from three to four inches long, and |
then as the water grows colder they be-
gin making their way in vast shoals to