Tagged Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, along with nontagged controls were held captive in a natural cove at Beaufort, North Carolina from December 1970 to January 1972. Rate of growth, annulus formation and increase in scale diameter was the same for control menhaden and those tagged one, two or three times. Growth of fish in the cove was similar to all other previous estimates obtained from back-calculated length-frequency studies. Both development of scales and growth of fish were correlated with annual temperature changes, and only one annulus formed during the year. Larval menhaden, which were thought to require water of low salinity to metamorphose into normal juveniles, transformed in the cove where the salinity was 30 ‰. An “inner ring,” which forms on the scales when menhaden are 50 to 70 mm and occurs on about 15% of the scales from commercial Atlantic menhaden landings some years, may represent a true annulus formed by very small juveniles from Long Island Sound, New York.