University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln US Fish & Wildlife Publications US Fish & Wildlife Service 10-1944 Fish and Shellfish of the South tlanticA and Gulf Coasts Rachel L. Carson US Department of the Interior Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usfwspubs Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, and the Biodiversity Commons Carson, Rachel L., "Fish and Shellfish of the South tlanticA and Gulf Coasts" (1944). US Fish & Wildlife Publications. 19. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usfwspubs/19 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the US Fish & Wildlife Service at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in US Fish & Wildlife Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Harold L. Ickes, Secretary OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR OF FISHERIES Ira N. Gabrielson, Deputy Coordinator UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE - WASHINGTON - 1944 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C. - Price 10 cents CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................... The fisheries.......................................................... The fishing grounds- ................................................. The South Atlantic coast. ...................................... The Gulf coast .................................................... Boats, men, and fishing gear ............................................ Marketing the catch ................................................... Biographies of the fish and shelifish of the region .......................... Mullet- .......................................................... Spanish mackerel ............................................ Kin$sh ......................................................... Bluefish .......................................................... Red snapper ...................................................... Groupers ......................................................... Sea trouts ....................................................... Redfish ........................................................ Black drum ..................................................... Shrimp .......................................................... The oyster..... ............................................... Theblue crab ..................................................... Other fish and shellfish............................................. Menhaden .................................................... Shad ........................................................ Pompano .................................................... Snook ....................................................... Grunts ........................................................ Sheepshead ................................................... Blue runner .................................................. Crevalle ...................................................... Flounders ..................................................... Sharks. ...................................................... Spiny lobster ................................................. Hard-shell clam ............................................... Bay scallop ................................................... Appendix ............................................................ The nutritive value of fish and shellfish- ............................. General guides for selecting and preparing fish- ....................... Bibliography ......................................................... Fish and Shellfish of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts By Rachel L. Carson, Aqtcatic Biologist Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries VER SINCE the first settlements were made in the region, the waters E bordering the southern Atlantic coast and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico have furnished food. Shrimp, oysters, crabs, and shorefish, abundant in the warm southern bays and sounds, insured the early colonists against starvation and later formed an article of trade with settlements removed from the coast, upriver and in the foothills of the mountains. Little by little the fisheries of the region developed, and now the South supplies the United States with practically all of its shrimp, a third of its crabs, a fourth of its oysters, and a number of choice fishes that are not taken anywhere else in abundance, like the red snapper, the Spanish mackerel, and the pompano. Although mature in years, the fisheries of the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts have by no means completed their development. With a coastline more than 2,500 miles long as the crow flies, the region produces only a little more than half a billion pounds of fishery products-14 per- cent of the total yield,of the fisheries of the United States and Alaska. With a bewildering variety of life in its waters-more kinds of fish and shellfish than are found anywhere else in the country-the region has developed only five major fisheries: the menhaden, shrimp, mullet, crab, and oyster industries. Of all other species available, none are caught in quantities exceeding 10,000,000 pounds. Part of this slow development has resulted from our lack of knowledge, both of the fishing grounds and of the fish. There has been little scien- tific exploration of the region, and the fishermen have confined their operations almost entirely to the waters close inshore. We do not know, with few exceptions, the areas where fish may congregate offshore, or whether such areas exist. We know very little of the life histories of some of the most important species of the region, so that we can only guess how large a fishery they might support. Some of the species which we know to be abundant cannot now be fully utilized because of the limitations of the present methods of handling the catch. The southern fisheries are a' fertile field for exploration which will reveal whether they may in time yield an even larger and more valuable seafood harvest. 4 CONSERVATION BULLETIN 3 7 THE FISHERIES Cape Hatteras is the Mason and Dixon Line of the marine world. North of it lie the waters inhabited by the cold-water fishes of the northern ocean. species like the sea herring. the common mackerel. cod. silver hake. and pollock. South of the Cape the truly southern fauna begins. Spanish mackerel and kingfish. mullet. bluefish. spotted sea trout. red snapper. groupers-these are a few of the many species that belong to the warm waters of the South and are caught in important quantities nowhere else . To be sure. many of them make occasional or TABLE:1.-Fish and shellfkh landed in the South Atlantic and Gulf states in 1940 in quantities exceeding 100.000 pounds.' Value to Species Pounds fishermen FISH Alewives or river herrina ............................................. Blue runner ........................................................ Carp .............................................................. Catfish and bullhead ................................................ Crappie .,.......................................................... Crevalle- ........................................................... Croaker........................................................... Drum: Black ............................................................. Red or redfish.. .................................................. Flounders ........................................................ Gropers........................................................ HarvestIish._. ...................................................... Hickoryshad ....................................................... Jewfish.. ....................................................... Kin mackerel ...................................................... King whiting ...................................................... Menhaden ................................................... Mojarra- .................................................... Mullet....................................................... Muttonfish .................................................... fish........................................................ Pompano ....................................................... Seabass..................................................... Seacatfish..................................................... Shad ... .................. hark........................................................ Sheepshead (salt-water).............................................. Snappers: Mangrove ..................................................... Red ......................................................... Snook orsergeantfish ............................................... Spanishmackerel .................................................. Spot ............................................................. Squeteagues or sea trout: Gray .... Spotted ....................................................... White .... Striped bass ........................................................ Sunfish ........................................................... Tenpounder ........................................................ White perch ...................................................... Yellowtail .......................................................... Crabs: Hard .......................................................... 33,321, 100 Soft and peelers ................................................. 543, 700 Shrimp ..........................................................