216 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



of Maine fish with which it is apt to be confused/' its first dorsal being relatively 

 much longer than that of the tuna (about one-third as long as the body, not counting 

 the caudal, and with about 21 spines), and, what catches the eye more, its second 

 dorsal is hardly more than half as high as the first and much longer than high, 

 whereas in the tuna it is as high or higher than the first and much higher than 

 long. Its mouth, too, is relatively larger than that of the tuna, gaping back as 

 far as the hind margin of the eye, and its jaw teeth are larger, with the two to four 

 in the front of the lower jaw noticeably larger than the rest. 



We need only note further that its firet dorsal is triangular, tapering regularly 

 backward, its outline only slightly concave; that the margins of the second dorsal 

 and anal are both deeply concave; that there are 7 or 8 dorsal and 7 anal finlets; 

 that the tail fin is lunate, much broader than long ; and that the lateral line, though 

 wavy, is not deeply bowed below the second dorsal. 



Color. — The color of this bonito is so distinctive as to afford a ready field mark 

 to its identity, for while it is steely blue above with silvery lower side and abdomen, 

 like most mackerels, its upper sides are barred with 7 to 20 narrow dark bluish 



Fig. 97.— Bonito {Sarda sarda). After Schmidt 



bands run nin g obliquely downward and forward across the lateral line. While 

 young the back is transvei-sely barred with 10 to 12 dark blue stripes, but these 

 dark bars usually disappear before maturity. 



Size. — This bonito grows to a length of about 23 to 30 inches and a weight of 

 10 to 12 pounds. 



General range. — Warmer parts of the Atlantic, including the Mediterranean; 

 north to Maine on the American coast and to Scandinavia on the European coast. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Cape Ann is the northern limit to the regular 

 occurrence of the bonito, and while it has been taken occasionally in Casco Bay 

 there is no definite record of it east of this on the coast of Maine, in the Bay of 

 .Fundy, or along the west coast of Nova Scotia, and this limitation to the southern 

 haK of the Gulf appears very clearly in the location of the commercial catches. In 

 1919, for example, pound nets, traps, etc., accounted for almost 34,000 pounds in 

 Cape Cod Bay, but only 90 pounds about Cape Ann, while the entire catch landed 

 in the fishing ports of Maine was only 4 or 5 fish (44 pounds). The catch was 

 slightly less than this in 1889 (about 30,000 pounds), and in 1902 (11,200 pounds), 

 say 100 to 300 fish yearly." Bonito may have been more numerous in Massachu- 



" No one should take a bonito for a large mackerel, its dorsal fins being close together, while those of the mackerel are far 

 apart. 



" The annual reports of the Massachusetts commissioners contain statistics of the catches in weirs, etc., by towns. 



