148 



SCOMBERID.E. 



ACANTHOPTERYGI1. 



SCOMBERID&. 



THE SPANISH MACKEREL. 



Scomber colias, GMELIN. 



Cuv. et VALENC. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. viii. p. 39, pi. 209. 

 ,, ,, Coly Mackrel, TUHTON, Brit. Fauna, p. 100, sp. 76. 



,, maculatus, Spanish Mackerel, COUCH, Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 22, 



fig. 8. 

 ,, ,, ,, Mackarel, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 361. 



MR. COUCH and Dr. Turton appear to be the only British 

 naturalists who have noticed this second species of Mackerel 

 on the British coast ; and the description of this fish by Mr. 

 Couch, who states that a few of them are taken every year on 

 the Cornish coast, agrees so closely with the account by 

 Cuvier and M. Valenciennes in the ichthyological work 

 above quoted, who, with Mr. Couch, consider it as the colias 

 of Rondeletius, that I shall, by permission, adopt his descrip- 

 tion, taken from a recent Cornish specimen. 



" This fish attains the weight of four or five pounds ; but 

 the specimen described measured no more than fourteen and 

 a half inches in length : the figure round and plump, six and 

 a half inches in compass near the pectoral fins ; the thickness 

 of its figure being carried far towards the tail. Mouth large ; 

 jaws of equal length ; teeth small ; tongue moveable and 



