204 AMERICAN FISHES. 



Linnaeus classed the Pompano with the stickleback on account of the 

 sharp spines on its dorsal fin. The young,like that of the swordfish, have 

 along the posterior edges of the opercular bones, rows of strong spike-like 

 spines, Avhich entirely disappear with advancing age. 



The spawning grounds and breeding times of these fishes are not well 

 known. Mr. Samuel C. Clarke states that the common Pompano spawns 

 in March, in the open sea, near the inlet to Indian River, Fla. Mr. 

 Stearns' statement concerning the occurrence of the young about Pensa- 

 cola has already been quoted. It is supposed that those visiting our 

 northern coast breed in winter, at a distance from the shore, the eggs, like 

 those of the mackerel, being lighter than the water and floating at or near 

 the surface. The Pompanoes may, however, be truly migratory fishes, 

 seeking the waters near the equator in winter, to follow a long coastwise 

 migration, north and south in summer. They are rapid, powerful 

 swimmers. 



Their food consists of mollusks, the softer kinds of crustaceans, and 

 probably the young of other fishes. S. C. Clarke states that they have 

 been known to bite at a clam bait. Scott remarks : " It is mullet- 

 mouthed ; never takes a bait except by mistake." Their teeth are very 

 small and are apt to disappear with age. 



They are caught in set nets and Spanish cast-nets. Great quantities are 

 secured in the Gulf of Mexico and in Mobile Bay. A few are taken every 

 year in the traps on the New Jersey coast. The local demand for them is 

 so great that they are not usually sent far away from the place where they 

 are taken. In New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, or New York, 

 they readily command the price of$i to ^1.50 a pound. The entire 

 quantity sold annually in New York probably does not exceed three 

 thousand pounds. 



Pompano means "grape leaf," and in Western Europe is appropriated 

 by a very different fish. This name was applied to our fish by the Spanish 

 colonists of America. The Cubans call the Pompano "Palometa." In 

 South Carolina it is known as the " Crevalle " or " Cavally," a corruption 

 of Caballa, (horse). La Roche, in his "Voyage to Canada," jDublished 

 in 1542, wrote of " salmons, mullets, sturgeons, surmullets, bass, carps, 

 pimpcj-neaux, and other fresh water fish." This is the earliest use of this 

 name for an American fish ; the writer cannot have been acquainted with 

 what we now call Pompano, but it is impossible to understand his meaning. 



