FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



335 



common mackerel in the fishery returns) until 

 1900, when they were found in the Casco Bay 

 region. There is no reason to suppose that they 

 appeared in any numbers anywhere on our coasts 

 during the period 1900 to 1906, but in the latter 

 year many were taken in the traps near Woods 

 Hole, also in 1908. And the mackerel fleet found 

 great schools of hardheads on Georges Bank in 

 1909, when vessels brought in fares of 50,000 to 

 100,000 of them during the first week of July, 77 

 their small size (500 to 700 to the barrel) suggest- 

 ing that there had been a great production of hard- 

 heads a year or two previous. Fishermen speak 

 of catching a few from time to time since then, but 

 no great numbers. We caught one at Cohasset 

 on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay in 

 September 1942. 



In its years of plenty, which fall at long. in- 

 tervals, however, the chub mackerel is likely to 

 appear wherever mackerel do off the Massa- 

 chusetts coast, especially about Provincetown. 

 Thus 13,420 pounds were taken in traps at North 

 Truro, in 1952, between August 11 and October 5. 

 Other definite Gulf of Maine records are mostly 78 

 about Casco Bay and one from Johns Bay, Maine. 

 We found no record of it farther east along the 

 coast of Maine ; it is unknown in the Bay of Fundy, 

 nor does it seem to reach the west Nova Scotian 

 coast. But in good "hardhead" years, it is to be 

 expected all along Georges Bank and on Browns 

 as well, to judge from its occasional visits to the 

 outer coast of Nova Scotia. 



" Boston Herald, July 9, 1919. 



'* Scattergood, Trefethen, and Coffin (Copeia, 1951, No. 4, p. 298), report one 

 caught in August 1949. 



Importance.- — The chub mackerel is as choice a 

 table fish as the mackerel, and no distinction is 

 made between them in the market, other than the 

 size of the individual fish. 



Striped bonito Euthynnus pelamis (Linnaeus) 

 1758 



Oceanic bonito 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 868, Gymnosarda 

 pelamis. 



Description. — The various fishes commonly 

 called bonitos, albacores, and tuna, are fusiform 

 in shape like all their family, tapering to a pointed 

 nose and to an extremely slender caudal peduncle. 

 But they are much stouter-bodied than mackerel 

 or chub mackerel, and their second dorsal fin 

 originates close to the rear end of the first dorsal, 

 instead of being separated from the latter by a 

 long interspace. The present species is about 

 one-fourth as deep as it is long; its caudal peduncle 

 has one prominent median longitudinal keel on 

 either side, with a smaller keel above it, and 

 another below at the base of the tail. The very 

 deeply concave contour of its first dorsal fin 

 (fig. 178) is enough to separate it at a glance 

 from the common bonito (fig. 180), or from 

 a young tuna (fig. 181), and from the Spanish and 

 king mackerels (figs. 182, 183). The fact that its 

 sides have dark markings below the lateral 

 line, but not above the latter, is the readiest 

 field mark by which to distinguish it from its 

 close relative the false albacore (p. 336), in which 

 the reverse is true. Also, its anal fin originates 



Figure 178. — Striped bonito (Euthynnus pelamis). After Smitt. 



