370 



SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



on our coast ranging north to Maine and soutli to Brazil. It is one of the choicest 

 of our food fishes and grows to the length of 3 feet and the weight of 10 pounds. 

 The species spawns on the Long Island coast in August or earlier. The eggs are 

 very small, about one twenty-fifth of an inch in diameter, and they float in salt 

 water. The rate of growth is unknown, as the young are seldom or never seen by 

 persons who know the fish. The Spanish Mackerel is caught chiefly in pound nets. 

 It is recorded that the species has been obtained off the coast of Maine by Capt. 

 Atwood. Mitchill describes the species without making any remark on its abun- 

 dance or scarcity, and states that it comes in July. In 1854 the species had very little 

 importance in the New York market, but at the present time it is one of the most 

 highly prized fishes and is obtained in large numbers. Spanish Mackerel have been 

 sparingly caught by trolling off Fire Island Inlet. We did not obtain the species in 



SPANISH MACKEREL. 



Great South Bay, bat Erastus Gordon, of Patchogue, informed us that it is obtained 

 in moderate numbers. In 1884 the fish was not plentiful and the average price was 

 about $1 each. They appear in New York waters in July and usually leave in 

 September. The spawning season at Long Island begins late in August and con- 

 tinues about a month. The Spanish Mackerel congregate in enormous schools. 

 Mr. Earll records the appearance of a school off Long Island which was estimated 

 to contain several million individuals. The fish are taken principally in traps ; a few 

 are caught by trolling, but this is an unsatisfactory method of capture. 



87. Cero (Scomber omori's rcgaiis Bloch). 



Scomberomorus rcgaiis Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 426, 1883 ; Jor- 

 dan & EvERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 875, 1896, pi. CXXXV, fig. 369, 

 1900. 



Color silvery; a narrow longitudinal stripe of brownish or bronze beginning 

 behind the pectoral and running to base of caudal ; numerous oblong brownish 



