170 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



THE NEEDLEFISHES. FAMILY SCOMBERESOCIDAE 



Both jaws (of the adult) are elongated to form a 

 slender beak in the needlefishes, as in the billfishes 

 (p. 167), and the anal, dorsal, and ventral fins are 

 set far back. But the presence of several finlets 

 between the dorsal and anal fins and the caudal in 

 the needlefishes (which the billfishes lack) is a 

 ready field mark for their identification. Further- 

 more, their teeth are small and weak, and their 

 bodies only moderately slender. Four or five 

 species are known in warm seas, one of which is not 

 uncommon in the Gulf of Maine. 



Needlefish Scomberesox saurus (Walbaum) 1792 



Billfish; Skipper; Saury 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 725. 



Description. — The needlefish resembles the sil- 

 ver gars in its slender form and in the fact tbat 

 both its upper and lower jaws are prolonged, but 



greenish; the lower parts are silvery with golden 

 gloss. Young fry, which live in the surface 

 waters of the open Atlantic, have dark blue backs 

 and silvery sides. 



Size. — Up to 18 inches long. Those caught 

 along Cape Cod run a foot and more in length. 



Habits. — The skipper is an oceanic fish. So 

 far as known it always lives close to the surface; 

 so much so indeed that in English waters, where 

 it is plentiful in summer, few are caught in nets 

 set as deep as a fathom or two. Its hordes are 

 preyed upon by porpoises and by all the larger 

 predaceous fishes; cod and pollock, for instance, 

 feed greedily upon them, as do bluefish. When 

 they strand on the beaches, as often happens, it is 

 probably while they are fleeing from their enemies. 

 At sea they attempt to escape by leaping, whole 

 companies of them breaking the surface together 

 as has often been described, and as we have seen 

 them doing in Massachusetts Bay. 



Figure 82. — Needlefish (Scomberesox saurus) . Adult, Woods Hole. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



it differs from the gars in having a series of five or 

 six little separate finlets, both on its back in the 

 space between the dorsal fin and the caudal, and 

 on its lower side between the anal fin and the 

 caudal. Its body is about nine times as long 

 (not counting caudal fin) as deep, flattened side- 

 wise, tapering toward the head and tail, with 

 slender caudal peduncle, and all its fins are small. 

 Its dorsal fin originates slightly behind the origin 

 of its anal; these two fins are alike in outline and 

 stand far back. Its ventrals are situated about 

 midway the length of the body. Its caudal is 

 deeply forked and symmetrical, much like the 

 tail of a mackerel. Its trunk is covered with 

 small scales as is a patch on each gill cover. Its 

 lower jaw projects a little beyond the upper, and 

 its teeth are pointed but very small. 



Color. — Olive green above with a silver band 

 on each side at the level of the eye and about as 

 broad as the latter. There is a dark green spot 

 above the base of each pectoral; the dorsal fin is 



© 



Figure 83.- 



-Needlefish, young, about 2J4 inches long. 

 After Murray and Hjort. 



It is not likely that they ever spawn in the cool 

 waters of the Gulf of Maine, for we have never 

 taken their fry in our tow nets, although they are 

 among the most numerous of young fish in the 

 open Atlantic between the latitudes of 11° or 12° 

 N. and 40° N. Although their eggs are covered 

 with filaments like those of the silver gars, 14 they 

 are not adhesive as the latter are, but drift near 

 the surface. The most interesting phase in the 

 development of the skipper is that its jaws do not 

 commence to elongate until the fry have grown 



» Skipper eggs were so described by Haeckel (Archiv fur Anatomie, Phy- 

 siologic, and Wissenschaftliche Medecin, 1855, p. 23, pi. 5, fig. 15,) 75 years 

 ago. They were not seen again until 1910 when similar eggs, 2.2 mm. In 

 diameter, covered with filaments, were towed in the Atlantic by the Michael 

 Sart (Murray and Hjort. Depths of the Ocean, 1912, p. 742, fig. 531). 



