BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 117 



discharged at one time but rather are discharged at intervals as the migration 

 proceeds. The spawning season, therefore, extends for several weeks, during 

 which several hundred thousand eggs may be deposited. The eggs float on 

 the surface and hatch in a relatively short time. Smith (1907) reports the 

 hatching period to be 25 hours in water of 77°-78° F. Ryder (1882) took 

 eggs at Nev/ Point Comfort, Virginia, and reports their hatching in 24 hours, 

 but the water temperature is not given. The latter author observed the young 

 actively feeding on the fourth day although the nature of the food was not 

 determined. He reports further that teeth are developed by the end of the 

 first week of life. The early development of teeth indicates that their carniv- 

 orous feeding habits develop very early. The adult Spanish mackerel is among 

 the most voracious feeders; it follows schools of smaller fish, apparently 

 without regard to species. 



Goode (Sec. I, Text, 1884) states that the Spanish mackerel was known in 

 New England as early as 1673, when it was clearly described and referred to 

 as the speckled hound-fish. No further mention of this species is made until 

 Mitchill (181 5) described and named it. Goode further reports that the 

 species was not taken commercially until 1845 in New England and some- 

 what later in the southern waters. He records a catch of several thousand 

 pounds landed at Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1879, which could not be 

 sold to local dealers because there was no market for it (the dealers believed 

 the fish to be the horse mackerel, Orcynus), and the entire catch was thrown 

 away. In the next few years the true value of the Spanish mackerel was 

 realized and the North Carolina fishery developed rapidly. 



This species supports its largest fishery in Florida, where the annual take 

 is several times that of the other Atlantic states combined. The catch in 

 North CaroHna recorded by the Federal Government since 1889 shows wide 

 fluctuations. The production in 1889 was 63,000 pounds; it increased to 

 about 350,000 pounds annually during the period 1897-1908, then slowly 

 decreased to a low of 48,000 pounds in 1934. In 1936, 433,000 pounds were 

 taken. Production since then has varied from 141,000 pounds to 507,000 

 pounds, the latter figure representing the 1945 catch. An indication that such 

 fluctuations may be rather limited in area is given by Smith (1907) who 

 reports that, during a peak in North Carolina's production, the Spanish 

 mackerel "is especially abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, about the Florida 

 Keys, and on the coast of the Carolinas; and was once very numerous in 

 Chesapeake Bay, but is now much less abundant than it was 25 years ago." 

 This species seems to be subject to wide fluctuations in local abundance, but 

 such changes do not necessarily embrace its entire range. 



This fish undoubtedly occurs off the entire coast of North Carolina, but 

 few are taken commercially south of Carteret County. Over 50 per cent of 

 the State's production is landed in Carteret County, with Dare, Pamlico, 



T 1^ V 



