MACKEREL. 



137 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



SCOMBERID&* 



; 



Jsss 



THE MACKEREL. 



Scomber scomber, LINN/CUS. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 54. 



,, scombrus, Cuv. et VALENC. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. viii. p. 6. 



,, ,, Common Mackrel, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 357, pi. 62. 



,, ,, Mackarel, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 122. 



,, vulgaris, Mackerel, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 217, sp. 161. 



,, scomber, Common Muckarcl, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 360. 



Generic Characters. Scales on the body small and smooth ; vertical fins not 

 bearing scales ; two dorsal fins widely separated ; some of the posterior rays of 

 the second dorsal and the anal fin free, forming finlets ; sides of the tail slightly 

 carinated ; one row of small conical teeth in eacli jaw ; the parts of the gill- 

 cover without dcnticulations or spines ; branchiostegous rays 7. 



THE MACKEREL is so well known for the beauty and 

 brilliancy of its colours, the elegance of its form, its intrinsic 

 value to man as an article of food, both in reference to quan- 

 tity as well as quality, that farther observation on these points 

 will be considered unnecessary. 



The Mackerel was supposed by Anderson, Duhamel, and 

 others, to be a fish of passage, performing, like some birds, 



* The family of the Mackerel. 



