THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



371 



spots mostly below this stripe, none of them more than one-half the diameter of 

 eye ; upper anterior part of spinous dorsal black, the rest of the fin white. 



The Spotted Cero is found from Cape Cod to Brazil, but is not com.mon north- 

 ward ; it is abundant in the West Indies. The species grows to the length of 5 

 feet and the weight of 20 pounds ; it is a fish of the same good qualities as the 

 Spanish Mackerel and is readily caught by trolling. 



CERO. 



88. Kingfish ; Sierra {Scoiiilh-ro?itonis cavalla Cuvier). 



Scomberofiwrus caballa Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 427, 1883 ; 

 Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 875, 1896. 



Color grayish silvery, the sides sometimes with dark spots, or yellowish in the 

 young; spinous dorsal blackish above, or without dark blotch. 



'X, 



kingfish. 



The Kingfish, or Cavalla, is a very important and valuable food fish of the tropi- 

 cal Atlantic, coming in immense numbers to the Florida Keys, the West Indies, and 

 north to Charleston, occasionally, in summer, to Cape Cod. Southward it extends 

 to Africa and Brazil, frequenting the open seas. In habits it resembles the Spanish 

 Mackerel ; it is caught by trolling, and at Key W^est it is so abundant that two 

 men in a small sailboat sometimes catch more tliaa 100 in a day. The flesh is excel- 

 lent, cither fresh or smoked. 



