REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 105 



Rate of Growth: Average size, twenty-four inches. Largest examples 

 recorded weigh eight to nine pounds. Large sj^ecimens generally 

 solitary. In Chesapeake Bay, not often exceed two or three pounds. 

 It is believed that the species grows very little in the first two years 

 of its life, not exceeding half a pound at the end of that time. 



References: 



1880: Earll, Report, U. S. Fish Com., VIII, 345. 



1881: Ryder, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., I, 135. 



1897: Brice, Report, U. S. Fish Com., XXIII, 220. 



87. Scomberomorus regalis (Bloch). Cereen; Kingfish. 



Geog. Dist.: Cape Cod to Brazil. Recorded from Woods Hole (Baird, 

 1873), Monomoy (Kendall coll. 1896), Vineyard Sound (Smith, 1898). 

 Abounds in West Indies. 



Habitat: Pelagic in tropical waters. Little known of its habits. 



Season in R. I.: Rare in Narragansett Bay, taken usually in the autumn. 



Food: Small fishes. 



Size: Maximum, five to six feet. 



TRICHIURID^. The Cutlas-Fishes. 



88. Trichiurus lepturus (Linnaeus). Cutlas-fish; Scabbard-fish. 



Geog. Dist.: Warm seas, chiefly of western Atlantic; north to Maine. 

 Reported from Maine (Monahegan, Storer, 1853) and from several places 

 along the Massachusetts shore. Rare on Long Island (Bean, 1903). 



Season in R. I. : A few stragglers taken nearly every year. Specimen take 

 by Mr. J. M. K. Southwick, Newport, November 16, 1899. Specimen 

 three feet long caught in a trap at Newport, 1901. This is the largest 

 specimen recorded from New England waters. Several smaller speci- 

 mens taken in the Bay the same year. Several specimens have been 

 taken by the Lewis Brothers in their traps in Narragansett Bay at 

 various times. 



Food: Carnivorous. 



Size: Five feet. 



ISTIOPHORID.^. The Sail-Fishes. 



89. Istiopliorus nigricans (Lacepede). 



Geog. Dist.: West Indies and warmer parts of the Atlantic, north to 

 Key West and France. Stragglers taken at Savannah, Newport, and 

 Woods Hole. At Woods Hole reported by Baird (1873). Dr. Smith 



