THE HERRING AND ITS ALIIES. 



407 



a name also applied by the fishermen of South Florida to a species of 

 percoid which has already been discussed. It is the "Silver-fish" of 

 Pensacola, the " Grande-Ecaille " (Large-scale fish), or " Grandykye," 

 as it is pronounced and sometimes spelled, and the " Savanilla " of Texas. 



The species can hardly be said to be common on our Atlantic coasts, 

 though from fifty to one hundred specimens are doubtless taken every 

 year between Florida and Cape Cod. In 1874 and 1875 i^oiie were 

 caught in the St. John's River, though several had been brought in during 

 the previous winter. In the Indian River region these fish are sometimes 

 harpooned. 



Mr. Stearns contributes the following notes upon the fish, as observed 

 by him : 



" The Silver fish, or Grande Ecaille, is common everywhere on the 

 Gulf coast. It is an immense and active fish, preying eagerly upon schools 

 of young fry, or any small fish that it is able to receive into its mouth, and 

 in pursuit of which it ascends fresh-water rivers quite a long distance. 

 During September, 1879, I saw large numbers of Silver-fish eight or ten 

 miles up the Apalachicola River, and am told that that was not an unusual 

 occurrence. They go up the Homosassa River in Florida, and several of 

 the Texas rivers, so I have subsequently learned. The Tarpum will take 

 a baited hook, but it is difficult to handle and seldom landed. The Pensa- 

 cola seine fishermen dread it while dragging their seines, for they have 

 known of persons having been killed or severely injured by its leaping 

 asrainst them from the seine in which it was inclosed. Even when it does 

 not jump over the cork-line of a seine, it is quite likely to break through 

 the netting before landed. I have secured several specimens, the smallest 

 of which weighed thirty pounds and the largest about seventy-five 

 pounds. The Tarpum is said to be palatable and well flavored." 



Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, of Jacksonville, Fla., known in the literature of 

 American angling as "Al. Fresco," is the great apostle of Tarpum, and 

 by his enthusiastic advocacy has won it a place among game fishes. 



The "Big-eyed Herring" or "Ten-pounder," Elops saurus, was 

 described by Linnceus from a Carolina specimen sent to him by Garden. 

 It occurs all along the coast from Martha's Vineyard southward, but only 

 in the summer in the northern part of its range. It is cosmopolitan in 

 its distribution, occurring throughout the West Indies, on the coast of 

 South America, on both coasts of Mexico, at the Cape of Good Hope, in 

 East Africa, Arabia and China. At Fort Macon it is known as the 

 " Horse Mackerel." It is rarely or never eaten in the United States, its 

 flesh being said to be drv and bonv. 



