FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



219 



certainly spawn as far north as Long Island, but there 

 is no reason to suppose that they ever do so north of 

 Cape Cod because their sexual products do not ma- 

 ture at temperatures lower than 70°. However, we 

 may mention in passing that the spawning season 

 extends from April in the Carolinas to September off 

 New York, continuing 6 to 10 weeks in a given local- 

 ity, with individual fish spawning over a consider- 

 erable period; that the eggs are buoyant (0.91 to 1.14 

 mm. in diameter, with one large oil globule of about 

 0.23 mm.) ; that incubation occupies about 25 hours 

 at 77° temperature; and that the newly hatched lar- 

 vae grow to 3.2 mm. in 20 hours. The later larval 

 stages have not been described. 80 



80. King mackerel (Scomberomorus regalis Bloch) 



King fish; Cero 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 875. 



Description. — In its general appearance the king- 

 fish closely resembles the Spanish mackerel, but its 

 ventrals are directly below instead of behind the ori- 

 gin of the first dorsal, its head is relatively longer, 

 its nose more pointed, its teeth more numerous (about 

 40 in each jaw), triangular and very sharp pointed, 

 and the upper half of the first dorsal is deep blue. 

 Furthermore, the king mackerel is marked by a nar- 

 row brown stripe running from close behind each 

 pectoral fin to the base of the caudal, crossing the 

 lateral line as the latter bows downward below the 

 second dorsal fin. Its side spots, too, are mostly 

 below the lateral line and arranged in rows, where- 

 as in the Spanish mackerel the spots are irregularly 

 scattered and there are about as many above as below 

 the lateral line. 



Size. — Said to grow to a length of 4 or 5 feet and 

 a weight of 20 to 35 pounds. 



General range. — Atlantic coast of North America, 

 Cape Cod to Brazil. Abundant in the West Indies. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This southern 

 fish has been recorded by Dr. W. C. Kendall at Mono- 

 moy, the southern elbow of Cape Cod. It has not 

 been taken elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine. 



Fig. 100.— Escolar (Ruvettus pretio3us) 3 



» Ryder (Bulletin, TJ. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I, 1881 (1882), p. 135) has given a detailed account of the early stages in 

 development. 



