Property of Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida.MULLET

( On Oct . 18th, 1934, the small l abor a tory pool was s eined with a minnow se ine in order to s ecure specimens of the Thornton Isl and mullet . One spe ci~men was obtai ned having a standard lengt h of 34 units on the Bureau of Fisheries t cm. s cale , i . e . 17 cm. It was in good condition.

On Oct . 22nd the Thornton Is . pool was netted for the first time this year and two spe cimens were removed and brought to the l aboratory . The following notes were taken:

Fish No . 1 - Length l ast s cale (center of caudal fin) - 43 . 75 Standar d measurement - 46.5 Injected on lef8 side directly back of pectoral fin with India ink . First dorsa 1 spi ne broken.

Fish No . 2 - Length l as t s cale (center of caudal fin) - 44 Standard length - 48 I nje cted same way as No . 1 fi sh .

During the pro cess of t aking the measurements both fish los t scales. Bot h these mullet were pl aced i n the l abor atory pool .

On Oct . 26th one of these fish was noted in shallow water, evi­dently Si ck, and was reported spotted with sores . The fish was never recovered as dead and has not been seen since .

On Nov . 17th Thornton Is . pool was again netted and two mullet procured . 12 mullet were seen to jump over the net . The pool was cons i derably smaller , the deepest part being only knee dee as agains t hi p depth on the previous seining .

Dr . Nol and , protozoologi st of the University of Wisconsin, took sampl es of the pool and has supplied the fol lowing notes :

Character i st ic al ga abundant .

Fine slender diatoms f a irly common; wide diatoms not as abundant as in bay.

Cryptomonad fl agella tes quite abundant .

Dinoflagellates f a irly common .

Wr act ically no copepods; a few rotifers present; nematodes fairly common.

Ciliates fairly common and the f ollowing observwed:

Loxophyllum set i gerum Lacrymaria corona ta Eupl otes al a tus Pleuronema coronata

Property of Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida.(Mullet continued)

A sample of water from Thorntcn Is . pool was prought to the l abora­tory and the specific gr avity determi ned , viz . 1005 . 5.

Both fish were rbrought to the l aboratory for di sse cting pur poses and the following measurements were made:

Standard length - 42 . 5 cm. ! otal length - 50 . cm. Length of center

of caudal fin - 47. am.

D. IV - I, 8 A. III, 8

,No . of scales - 41

Snout - 1 cm. Head - 4 . 8 cm.

No scales noted on second dorsal fin ; a few were present ar ound the sp i nes of the anal fin and many around the dorsal and ventral edges of the caudal fin .

Dark longitudinal stripes we re very defi nite.

No par~sitic copepods noted on the gills .

The fish was ident ified as MugU cephalus.

The lining of the body cavity was bl ack, the pi gment coming off on to the hands . There was consi derable fat ar ound the i ntes tine which measured 88 cm. l ong . The oesophagus and stomach were empty; the in­testine contained a brownish fluid .

On Nov . 19th two mullet s were secured fr om the fish market and di ssected and f ound to contain red and whi te roe respe ctively.

red roe - 78 . 5 cm. ; ovary - 16 cm. , soft . white roe - 68 cm. ; test i s - 13 cm. , hard.

A par as itic copepod (an Ergas ilid) was quite abundant on the gills of one of the above fish.