37 o AMERICAN FISHES. 



quantities are put up for domestic consumption. Salt Mullet sell at the 

 rate of eight or ten dollars a barrel, or five or six fish for twenty-five cents. 

 I had an opportunity of tasting some salted by a negro at Mill Cove, and 

 can bear testimony to their excellence. Their flavor is more like that of 

 salted salmon than of mackerel, and they are hard, toothsome, and 

 not at all "muddy" in taste, this last being the usual charge made 

 against the Mullet. Usually only the "Fat Mullet" are salted, the 

 " Roe Mullet " being caught later in the season, when they can easily be 

 shipped. 



To prepare a Mullet for salting, the head is first cut off, then a cut is 

 made on each side of the back-bone, down the back, and the bone is 

 removed ; the fish may then be spread out flat, and packed in a barrel. 

 In packing, the flesh side is carefully placed up, the skin down. The 

 fish are spread out flat upon the skin side and are laid in tiers across the 

 bottom of the barrel, each tier being covered with salt. Care is taken to 

 have the direction of the bodies in the different tiers at right angles to 

 each other. When the Mullet are scaled before packing they command a 

 somewhat higher price. Mullet roes, though usually eaten fresh, are 

 sometimes salted and dried in the sun. In this condition they are eaten 

 raw, like dried beef, or are fried. Large ones sell for ten cents a pair. 

 Fishermen often boil the heads to extract the oil, which they use to lubri- 

 cate their guns. 



Mr. Silas Stearns has prepared a most valuable study of the habits of 

 the Mullet, and writes as follows : 



" The Mullet is one of the most abundant and valuable food-fishes of the 

 Gulf coast. It is present on the coast and in the estuaries of the Gulf 

 throughout the year, and in most places is pursued by fishermen at all 

 seasons, yet, for so common and important a fish, its habits seem to be 

 but little known or understood. Intelligent fishermen of long experience 

 at particular points have learned many details regarding their local 

 movements, which may disagree in many respects with those at some 

 other point a hundred miles or so away. A few months spent on the 

 southern part of the Florida coast has led me to believe that there is a 

 less migratory movement of Mullet in that section than along the northern 

 Gulf coast. It is probable that in each bay or section or coast Mullet 

 have peculiar habits as to time and manner of arrival, time and place of 

 spawning, and the general habits of old fish after spawning and voung 



