Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-05-25

Delaware shad have always been looked
upon as the finest favored fish of the kind
taken from any river in the Union. The
movements of the shad are of much inter-
est and more mystery to ichthyologiste and
fish culturists. Beyond the period when
the fish is in the river almost absolutely
nothing is known of its habits. 1t belongs
to 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 deposited to the
time the fish reaches maturity and becomes
spawner there ia 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 temperature of go degrees
or over the shad enter from the sea in
great shoals, the males first and the females
about two weeks later. 1t was supposed
for some years that the males entered first
in order to find suitable nesting places, but
this assumption is now known to be false
from the discovery that the shad does not
make a nest, as many other species of fish
do, and the real reason for their appearing
first must remain, for the present 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 spawn
ing grounds at the head of Timber Greek
and few other streams below Trenton
tributary to the Delaware, but they are of
very small extent, and could not begin to
accommodate the number of fish which
come in from the sea every year.
The average female shad deposits about
10000 eggs, although very large one may
deposit anywhere from 10000 to 10000
eggs. OF these it is estimated that not
more than ten per cent. are hatched, the
remainder either not being fertilized or
else are destroyed by the many other fish
10 the river. OF those ieft it is estimated
that ninety per cent. are deYoureG. 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 of every 10000
eggs man, by artificial methods, can canse
ninety per cent. to be Matched, against the
ten per cent. of nature The young arti-
ficially Matched must be placed almost
Immediately in the natural breeding
grounds, and assuming that ninety per
cent. of these little creatures will be
deyOured by larger fish, there will still
remain 2,700 to reach the sea, against
twenty five or thirty by natural Matching.
1t may be stated here that in consequence
of the greatly increased den aud 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 sbad grow
very rapidly, feeding ON small flies and
water animalcula By September they
are from three to four inches long, ADD
then, as the water grows colder, they begin
making their way in vast shoals to the sea.
As soon as they reach deep water all trace
of them is lost. Philadelphia Ledger.