THE SPANISH MACKEREL AND THE CEROES. 1S7 



Spanish sierra, which is in fact the name applied to the species by the 

 Spanish people of Mexico. 



King-fish, according to Silas Stearns, are very abundant in the southern 

 part of the Gulf of Mexico, and are common in some localities along the 

 coast of our Gulf States. They live at sea and are caught by the use of 

 trolling-lines. At Key West, large quantities are sold in the markets. 

 Two men in a small sad-boat sometimes catch a hundred or more in a day. 



The Pacific species, Scomber omorus concolor, has been called the " Mon- 

 terey Mackerel." It attains a length of about thirty inches and a weight 

 of about five or eight pounds. It has only been seen in the Monterey Bay, 

 where from five to forty individuals are taken each autumn, most of them 

 at Soquel. They appear in September and disappear in November. 

 Nothing is known of their distribution or habits. They always command 

 the high price of from thirty to fifty cents per pound. The flesh is similar 

 to that of the Spanish Mackerel, which it closely resembles. The male is 

 silvery blue, without spots, but the female has a double row of alternately 

 roundish blotches upon each side. 



The Spanish Mackerel is a species smaller and more delicately formed 

 than the others which occur in the Atlantic. Its normal range, as now 

 understood, is from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. It is possible, in- 

 deed probable, as has already been suggested, that it occurs in the waters 

 of South America, though the statement that Agassiz recorded it from 

 Brazil is based upon an erroneous reading of his statement in his book on 

 the fishes collected by Spix. Poey had it from Cuba. Solitary individu- 

 als have been taken north of Cape Cod, one at Provincetown in August, 

 1847, one at Lynn in July, 1841, and one at Monhegan in Maine. I am 

 disposed to question the official statement of the Canadian fisheries de- 

 partment that one was taken, at New London, in September, 1880, which, 

 if true, would extend the range of the species several hundred miles. The 

 author of this report justly remarks : " It is rare to find this fish in so high 

 a latitude."* The identification should be verified. 



Though abundant in the north-eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 few individuals have as yet been observed off the east coast of Florida. 



The species also occurs along the Pacific coast of Mexico, and in great 

 abundance in the Gulf of California. 



* Supplement No. 2 to the Eleventh Annual Report of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries for the year 

 1880. p. 229. 



