FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



347 



But experiments are in progress, by the U. S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, to find whether a prof- 

 itable seine fishery or long line fishery can be 

 developed for these great fish in our Gulf, with 

 the hope of providing a more dependable supply, 

 and through a longer season. 



The sporting qualities of the tuna in our Gulf 

 deserve a word, though an extended account 

 would be out of place here. Encouraged by the 

 famous tuna fishing off the coast of southern 

 California, and by the knowledge that tuna run 

 much larger in the Gulf of Maine than they do 

 on the Pacific coast, several anglers had caught 

 these huge fish with light tackle at various points 

 in New England and Nova Scotia by 1925, when 

 the first edition of this book appeared. Small 

 tuna will often take artificial lures especially if 

 trolled at high speed and close to the vessel's 

 stern, while large ones will take a hook baited with 

 herring, mackerel, or other fish. And tuna fishing 

 has now grown to be so popular and successful 

 a sport that many party boats go out regularly 

 off Provincetown, in Cape Cod Bay, to the Ipswich 

 Bay-Isles of Shoals-Boone Island region, off 

 Casco Bay, and off Wedgeport on the Nova 

 Scotian side. 39 



To date, the largest tuna that has been landed 

 on rod and reel in the Gulf of Maine was one of 

 932 pounds, caught by H. E. Teller at Wedgeport, 

 NovaScotia, September 11, 1951 (p. 340). Another 

 of 927 pounds was caught in Ipswich Bay, August 

 4, 1940, by Dr. J. B. Vernaglia. We have heard 

 of one of 180 pounds landed with ordinary surf- 

 casting tackle on the beach at Plum Island, a 



" Farrington (Field and Stream magazine for August 1950, p. 84) has 

 recently given an interesting account of the methods employed by rod and 

 reel anglers, in these localities. Crane (Zoologica, N. Y. Zool. Soc., vol. 21, 

 No. 16, 1936, p. 210) describes In a readable way the small boat harpoon 

 fishing for tuna off Casco Bay, Maine. 



notable feat. 40 Even a small tuna, such as a 

 thirty-pounder that was caught on a black plug 

 by Wm. Lakaitis, surf casting at North Truro 

 on the night of July 28, 1951, is a far more stronger 

 adversary in the surf than a striped bass of equal 

 size. 



Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus maculatus 

 (Mitchill) 1815 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 874. 



Description. — The Spanish mackerel has the 

 outline of the slender mackerel rather than of 

 the stout bonito, its body being nearly 4% to 5 

 times as long as it is deep. But there is no 

 danger of confusing it with either of the true 

 mackerels, first, because its two dorsal fins (like 

 those of the bonitos) are hardly separated, and 

 second, because of its color pattern, Its high 

 second dorsal, slender form, and spotted sides 

 mark it off at first glance from our bonitos, while 

 its color, slender form, long first-dorsal fin, and 

 the outline of its second dorsal distinguish it 

 from a small tuna. The most clear-cut distinc- 

 tion between the Spanish and its close relatives 

 the king mackerel and the cavalla, is that the 

 pectoral fins of the Spanish arc naked but those 

 of the last two are mostly covered with scales. 

 The ventral fins, also, originate definitely behind 

 the origin of the first dorsal in the Spanish, under 

 it or only a very little rearward in the king; and 

 the color differs. 



The most distinctive anatomic character of the 

 Spanish, king, and cavalla among our local scom- 

 broids is the large conical jaw teeth. The caudal 

 peduncle of the Spanish mackerel is keeled; its 

 lateral line wavy; its first dorsal fin (17 to 18 



<• Landed on August*12, 1950,[by[M. L. Insleyn. 



#fc^s. 



Figure 182. — Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus) . From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



