NatureNature SeriesSeries Fish Consumption Advisory Fish are cold-blooded animals with backbones that live in water and have gills. Monmouth County’s coastal oceans and brackish waters (salt-freshwater mix) host a variety of species such as sea bass, bluefish, fluke, striped bass, Fish are nutritious and tasty to eat, but some species weakfish, and flounder, while deeper waters host big game such as bluefin tuna, swordfish, and sharks. can absorb contaminants from the water and from the food they eat. The Federal Government sets standards for chemicals in food sold commercially, including Saltwater Four Categories of Fish in Monmouth County fish. The State of New Jersey routinely monitors contaminant levels in fish. The NJ Department of Estuarine fishes live in tidal Anadromous fish migrate from waters where fresh and the ocean to freshwater to Health issues advisories when contaminant levels Summer flounder exceed federal standards. Please visit: Fish (fluke) are salt waters mix. The salt spawn. After spawning, adult Blueback www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/njmainfish.htm of Monmouth County speckled, bottom content varies: water closer fish often swim downstream to an herring. dwelling, flatfish to the ocean has a has estuary and eventually out to sea. Average adult with both eyes 1 Please Be a Responsible Angler size /3 lb., 10-12" on the same side higher salinity. The shallow • Striped bass Limit your take. Only keep enough for a meal, • of their head. water and low wave action • Shad release the rest. Average adult size of estuaries make them River herring (blueback 3-6 lb., 15-22.” • • Use circle, wide gap and barbless hooks. Reduce an important nursery for herring, alewife, etc.) the chance of lethally wounding a fish during ‘catch juvenile fish. Sandy Hook Bay, Raritan Bay, and release.’ and the tidal portions of the Navesink, • Take photos (instead of keeping fish). If you Shrewsbury, Shark and Manasquan rivers Large, 47 lb. striped bass don’t plan to eat your fish, consider having a are home to over 80 species, including: caught offshore. Average release mount made. These look identical to the adult size 25-35 lb., 2½ -3 ft. • Bluefish Photo Source: Derek Bielitz, actual fish – especially if you submit a photo. • Weakfish Sam Skinner • Don’t trash the water. Bring a bag for garbage • Winter & summer flounder (fluke) and a separate bag for used fishing line/ monofilament (it can be recycled). • Walk quietly and carefully. Stirring up silt, pulling seaweed, and even causing big splashes can stress Juvenile striped bass. fish enough to make them leave the area. Adult bluefish, note the shiny, blue-grey color. Average adult size 10-32 lb., 1-1 ½ ft. Regulations Photo Source: NEFSC/NOAA Catadromous fish migrate from freshwater to the ocean to spawn. Spawning takes place in Rules are in place to maintain a healthy fish population Marine or pelagic fishes spend much and to provide anglers with the best opportunities time living in the open ocean. These are far offshore waters of the Sargasso Sea, without depleting stocks. For minimum size and catch often large, fast-growing and swift-moving near Bermuda. Monmouth County has limits, seasons, and gear restrictions please visit: species wonderfully adapted to living in only one: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/njregs.htm#fishing deep waters. • Eel Anglers ages 16 and older who fish in the tidal waters of • Marlin NJ must now register with the NJ Saltwater Registry. It’s Tuna FREE. Please visit: www.nj.gov/dep/saltwaterregistry/ • • Predatory American eel, juvenile pelagic Yellowfin tuna sharks (blue sharks, oceanic caught offshore. whitetip sharks, scalloped Average adult size Monmouth County Bluefish, Juvenile 55 lb, 3-3 ½ ft. Photo Board of Chosen Freeholders hammerheads, etc.) Source: NEFSC/NOAA Board of Recreation Commissioners G15165-12/15 www.monmouthcountyparks.com Sharks, Skates & Rays Bait Fish: Small in Size, Sharks: Principal Sea Predators of Monmouth County Rays, skates, and sharks have skeletons composed entirely of Large in Status Sharks Baitfish are found in shallow areas and cartilage, a light, flexible tissue that can also be found in the • Basking • Sandbar typically move in large schools. They produce noses and ears of humans. The only bony tissue • Blue • Scalloped many eggs, making them easy to catch but in sharks are their teeth and scales. Since cartilage Sand tiger shark • Bull hammerhead keeping them in regular supply. is half as dense as bone, it reduces body mass so these • Great white • Shortfin mako Clearnose fish swim faster (and quickly catch their prey). Photo • Longfin • Silky Menhaden are small skate. Source: Page As predators, sharks help keep fish populations healthy by weeding • Mako • Smooth dogfish schooling fish that Valentine, • Porbeagle • Spiny dogfish feed on plankton, and USGS out the sick and unfit, which contributes to the stability of the Menhaden • Sand tiger • Tiger in turn are fed upon by ecosystem and maintains biodiversity. Shark predation is an important larger fish, ospreys, and marine mammals. As natural control on the size of many marine species populations. Skates & Rays such, they play a vital role in the aquatic food Unfortunately, the shark population itself is decreasing because of human activity such as over- • Clearnose skate • Little skate web. They are also an important baitfish used fishing or ending up as bycatch in large fishing nets targeting other species. Since sharks take a long by anglers to catch crabs, striped bass, fluke, • Clownose • Winter Skate time to mature (12-18 years for some species) and produce few young (generally only two pups every stingray bluefish and sharks. 1-2 years) it can be difficult for the population to recover.

Killifish are 1-2” long, and Smooth dogfish shark known to be extremely Mako shark hardy and tolerant of Killifish changeable water conditions, including muddy and polluted waters. The word ‘killie’ is Dutch, derived from “kilde,” meaning small stream or creek, which is where these Strange & Odd Fish fish can often be found. Mummichogs are a The tidal waters of Monmouth Some species of young, tropical fish—born type of killifish, their Native American name County are home to a variety of in the Caribbean or off the southern U.S.— means “going in crowds.” They can be found weird-looking fish. can be swept northward in the Gulf Stream swimming in large schools in salt marshes into Monmouth County, including Florida One of the most unusual where they help control the mosquito pompano, lookdown, Atlantic fish is the small, Northern The Northern population by consuming larvae. They can live moonfish, crevalle jack, permit, and lined seahorse. It has a pufferfish inflates its out of water for greater amberjack. body by taking air horse-shaped head and several hours, and The Inshore into its stomach. Common Baitfish of is a master of camouflage, can even swallow Lined lizardfish is Monmouth County seahorse, note the changing color in seconds to air if necessary, as slender, with different color. match its background. Since a wide mouth and long as their gills • Menhaden seahorses are generally poor swimmers, they sharp teeth. are moist. • Killifish will cling to vegetation or pilings in the water • Bay anchovy to ingest small shrimp and plankton through a • Silverside The Northern stargazer has a flat long, tubular snout. Males nourish and protect body and a large head with an organ • Sand eel (a fish not the young before releasing them. that can deliver an electric shock (as Bay anchovy related to the eel) much as 50 volts) to stun its prey. Crevalle jack Lookdown