The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-08-24
A STRANGE ANOMALY
THAT KING OF AMERICAN FOOD
FISHES, THE SHAD.
1T Is Salt Water Fish, Yet 1t In Only
known In Fresh water-Its Ocean
Life and Habits Are a Mystery to
Scientists.

- AD n ShAt wv dtCF ISM ct n UmIy
Known In Fresh Water-Its Ocean
Life and Habits Are a Mystery to
Scientists.
The shad is the king of American food
fishes. As soon as winter is fairly gone
this splendid creature appears in count
less myriads, and from Florida to Maine
1t furnishes enc of the most valuable Of
the 'harvests of the sea-" 1t may be
considered an American fish, for the Eu-
ropean "maifisch," eat resembles it on
the other side, is far inferior to it. The
flesh of our shad is rich without being
oily and has q flavor unequaled even by
the salmon. Unimaginative science has
recognized this quality in the technical
name given to it and knows it as the Alo-
ga sapidissima, the most toothsome alosa,
and no one who has tasted "planked'
shad will criticise the title.
The shad is a member of the herring
family, an immense tribe that includes
the sardines, the alewives, or "river her
rings" and many well known fishes, and,
like them, it is a salt water fish. Little
or nothing is known of its ocean life.
The parts of the sea to which it resorts,
the food it eats and its movements when
in its true home have not been deter.
mined, and it presents the strange anom-
ally of fish known only in fresh
water. Like it's kindred, it moves in
great shoals, and to this fact the family
owes its name, for the word herring
came to us from an old German term
meaning army. The movements OF the
shad seem to depend on the temperature
of the water, and a late spring will delay
their coming very materially.
The annual run into the rivers Is solely
for spawning, and they appear in almost
regular succession, according to latitude.
About the middle of November the run
commences in st. Johns river, in Flor
Ida, and the first or second week in jan
uary finds them in the Savannah and
Edisto. Somewhat later they enter the
streams of North Carolina, while April
is usually the month in which they are
most abundant in the Potomac. By the
middle of May they have reached New
Brunswick, and their season is over. The
time they stay in fresh water varies, and
1t seems that under some circumstances
they may remain in the rivers throughout
the year, and occasionally one is taken in
midwinter, but as a rule they are found
only in the spawning season.
Shad were formerly very abundant and
went for long distances up the rivers in
search of spawning grounds. The reck-
less building of dams cut them off from
the spawning beds and so diminished
their numbers until they seemed threat
ened with extinction, and the shadows
on which the eggs are laid became clog
ged up by the sawdust and other refuse
that shortsighted public policy allows
to be thrown into streams. The fear Of
the loss of this important industry was
one of the causes that led to the estab-
lishment Of the United States commits
sion of fish and fisheries, and it is mainly
by the efforts of this bureau that it has
been restored to its Importance.
This has been effected by artificial cul-
ture. The fish commission has several
stations situated on noted shad streams
and a steamer, the Fishhawk, that ia
practically floating hatchery that fol-
lows the fish, and in these millions of
young shad are Matched. The ripe" fish
are captured on the way to the spawning
beds, and the spawn is gently pressed or
stripped" into tin pans and fertilized by
milt taken from the males by mixing
eggs and milt together. The eggs are
then put into the Matching jars, and then
the fry develops. The jars are arranged
so that the water flows in through a
tube that reaches nearly to the bottom
and flows out through the top, the cur
rent keeping up a boiling motion in the
mass of eggs. All the dead eggs rise to
the top and are carried off into the waste
pipes, so that they are not dangerous to
the living ones. The living eggs are
heavier than the dead ones and stay near
the bottom, so the Matching jar sorts
them out automatically.
In from 8 to Is days, according to the
temperature of the water, the fry begin
to hatch. A young shad ID about one
third of an inch long and is almost trans
parent, and to this invisibility it owes
its escape from enemies AS soon as it
matches the young fish rises to the top
of the jar and is carried by the current
of water into a large collecting tank,
where it stays until the whole lot is
Matched. The fish commission gets about
9S per cent of fry from the eggs 1t pro-
cures, including unfertilized and dead
eggs in the count. A pair of shad yield
from IL, 900 to 10000 fertile eggs, SO lie
but two in this number reach adult age
the number will be maintained. This
means that in nature only from 1-l5O to
LIS Of per cent survive.
AS soon us possible aIter HdlCulHB u
complete the young shad are planted
The fish commission cars are loaded with
tanks filled with fry and dispatched to
the rivers into which the tiny fish are
put to reappear some four or five years
later as fine, luscious food.
Richly endowed by nature as is our Pa
ci1c coast, one valuable gift was missing.
The shad is not a native of the Pacific,
ard soon after the fish commission was
organized it was urged to try to intro
duce the fish into these new waters. No
such feat had been attempted before. but
Professor Baird, aided by DR.. Turleton
Fl. Bean and Livingston Stone. finally
succeeded in carrying the Atlantic fry
across the continent and planted them in
the Sacramento river. Other plants
have followed and the fish is now album
dant from Mexico to Alaska. Had the
commission done nothing but this it
would have more than paid for its COST
Washington Star.