Cavallas and Pampanos 279 



Its maximum, weight is from, twelve to twenty pounds, but 

 most of those taken are much smaller. It is one of the most 

 voracious of all fish. Concerning this, Professor Baird observes : 

 "There is no parallel in point of destructiveness to the 

 bluefish among the marine species on our coast, whatever may 

 be the case among some of the carnivorous fish of the South 

 American waters. The bluefish has been well likened to an 

 animated chopping-machine the business of which is to cut 

 to pieces and otherwise destroy as many fish as possible in a 



FIG. 218. Bluefish, Cheilodipterus saltatrix (L.). New York. 



given space of time. All writers are unanimous in regard to 

 the destructiveness of the bluefish. Going in large schools 

 in pursuit of fish not much inferior to themselves in size, they 

 move along like a pack of hungry wolves, destroying every- 

 thing before them. Their trail is marked by fragments of fish 

 and by the stain of blood in the sea, as, where the fish is too 

 large to be swallowed entire, the hinder portion will be bitten 

 off and the anterior part allowed to float away or sink. It is 

 even maintained with great earnestness that such is the glut- 

 tony of the fish, that when the stomach becomes full the con- 

 tents are disgorged and then again filled. It is certain that 

 it kills many more fish than it requires for its own support. 



"The youngest fish, equally with the older, perform this 

 function of destruction, and although they occasionally devour 

 crabs, worms, etc., the bulk of their sustenance throughout 

 the greater part of the year is derived from other fish. Noth- 

 ing is more common than to find a small bluefish of six or eight 

 inches in length under a school of minnows making continual 

 dashes and captures among them. The stomachs of the blue- 



