THE COBIA. 



COBIA, MOON-FISH AND FLASHER. 



You strange, astonished -looking, angle-faced, 



Dreary-mouthed, gaping wretches of the sea. 



Gulping salt-water everlastingly. 



Cold-blooded, though with red your blood be graced. 



And mute, though dwellers in the roaring waste. 



What is't you do ? what life lead ? eh, dull goggles ? 



How do ye vary your dull days and nights? 



How pass your Sundays ? Are ye still but joggles. 



In ceaseless wash ? Still nought, but gapes, and bites. 



And drinks, and stares, diversified with boggles. 



Leigh Hunt, The Ulan to the Fish. 



'T'HE Cobia or crab-eater, Elacate canada, known in the Chesapeake 

 -*■ Bay as the " Bonito " or the "Coal-fish," as the "Sergeant-fish" 

 in Southern and Eastern Florida, and in parts of Florida as the " Ling " 

 or "Snooks," is considered one of the most important food-fishes of 

 Maryland and Virginia, though it is but little known elsewhere. Like the 

 Bluefish, it is cosmopolitan in its distribution, having been recorded in the 

 seas of China and Japan, in Southeastern Hindostan, in the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, on the coast of Brazil, in the West Indies and the Bermudas, 

 where it is called the " Cubby-yew," and along our own shores from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to Cape Cod. DeKay speaks of the capture of a single 

 individual in Boston Harbor. The species was originally described by 

 Linneeus from a specimen sent to him from South Carolina by Dr. Garden. 

 The name " Sergeant-fish" refers to its peculiar coloration, several stripes 

 of brown and grey being visible on the sides of the body. The name 

 " Crab-eater" appears to have been ascribed to the fish by Dr. Mitchill. 

 What is known of its habits may be very shortly told. Holbrook remarked : 

 " The Crab-eater is a solitary fish ; it prefers deep and clear water and is 



