712 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 

 Family SCOMBRIDJE. 



Mackerels. 



Body not much compressed, covered with minute cycloid scales (or 

 naked) ; head conical ; jaws with sharp teeth ; dorsal fins two, the 

 first of weak spines depressible in a groove ; tail slender, keeled ; 

 caudal fin falcate ; ventrals thoracic ; vertebrae more than twenty-five. 



SCOMBER, L. 



S. pneumatophorus, Delar. (grex,dekayi, coliasf* &c.) Chub Mackerel. 

 Fall Mackerel. Easter Mackerel. Tinker Mackerel. 



Body fusiform ; two small keels on each side of tail ; one row 

 of slender teeth in jaws; first dorsal of nine slender spines; 

 quite a space in front of second, which is followed by a series of 

 five finlets ; anal similar ; color blue, with twenty wavy, blackish 

 streaks and reticulations, enclosing pale blue spots; silvery 

 below. Lateral line, 200 scales ; length, 1 foot. 



" Quite abundant on the coast during October and November. 

 Straggling specimens occasionally met with in the bays and 

 inlets." 



S. scombrus, L. (vernalis.) Common Mackerel. 



Lustrous dark blue above, with thirty-five wavy streaks ; 

 silvery below ; base of pectorals dark ; snout long, pointed ; 

 ventrals and pectorals short. Length, 18 inches. 



" This well-known species is quite abundant during the fishing 

 season on the banks off Barnegat, where they were caught by 

 the writer in 1862." [C. C. A.] 



AUXIS, Cuv. 

 A. thazard, Lac. (rochei, vulgaris, bisus, &c.) Frigate Mackerel. 



Body plump, naked behind ; small scales anteriorly ; a " corse- 

 let " of large scales in pectoral region ; mouth small ; teeth 

 small ; tail slender, with large keel on each side; seven to eight 

 finlets behind second dorsal and anal; vertebrae thirty-nine, 



*S. colias is the Spanish mackerel of Europe, which has been introduced upon our 

 mast by the U. S. Fish Commission. This has a longer head, lower dorsal fin; the 

 dark bands are narrower and belly is not immaculate. May lie considered as a distinct 

 species rather than a variety. 



