348 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



spined) is triangular; its second dorsal (14 to 18 

 rays) is concave and originates a short distance 

 in front of the anal, which is similar to it in form 

 and size. It has 8 or 9 dorsal and as many- 

 anal Unlets. Its pectorals are naked; its caudal is 

 deeply lunate, with the outer rays decidedly 

 longer than those of the common mackerel. It 

 has 32 teeth, or fewer, in each jaw. 



Color. — The Spanish mackerel is dark bluish 

 or blue green above, pale below, like all scombroids, 

 and silvery, its sides marked with many small, 

 oblong-oval, dull orange or yellowish, spots, both 

 above the lateral line and below, these spots 

 being a very diagnostic character. The fact that 

 the membrane of the front one-third of its first 

 dorsal fin is black (blue in the king, p. 348) .whereas 

 its rear part is greenish white, is an equally useful 

 field mark. The second dorsal and pectoral fins 

 are pale yellowish with dusky edges; the anal 

 and the ventrals are white. 



Size. — The maximum weight is about 9 or 10 

 pounds, 41 maximum length about 36 inches, but 

 the fish average less than 3 pounds as caught. 



General range. — Both coasts of North America, 

 north commonly as far as Chesapeake Bay in 

 the Atlantic, and to Maine as a stray; south to 

 Brazil. 



Occurrence in the Gulf oj Maine.- — The Spanish 

 mackerel is a summer visitor all along the Atlantic 

 coast of the United States, as far north as New 

 York; less regularly along the southern coasts of 

 New England, though a few are taken during most 

 summers at Woods Hole. But it is only a stray 

 in the colder waters of the Gulf of Maine, where 

 occasional fish are taken in Cape Cod Bay every 



« A weight of 25 pounds is recorded by Smith (North Carolina Geol. 

 Econ. Surv., vol. 2, 1907, p. 191) for a specimen observed in a Washington, 

 D. C, fish market. II the identity was correct and this was not the closely 

 related king mackerel ScombcTomorus regalis it must be considered a case of 

 giantism. 



year or two. In 1896 the local catch rose to 37 

 fish (Provincetown and Truro traps), and there is 

 record of it at Lynn, Mass. But Spanish mackerel 

 are so rare north of this point that Monhegan 

 Island is the only locality-record for Maine, and 

 the most northerly known outpost for the species. 



King mackerel Scomberomorus regalis (Bloch) 

 1793 



KlNGFISH 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1895-1900, p. 875. 



Description. — The king mackerel resembles the 

 Spanish mackerel closely in general appearance, 

 but its pectoral fins are mostly covered with scales ; 

 its ventrals are below the first dorsal, instead of 

 definitely behind the origin of the latter; its head 

 is relatively longer, its nose more pointed, its teeth 

 more numerous (about 40 in each jaw), triangular 

 and very sharp pointed; and the upper half of its 

 first dorsal is deep blue. Furthermore, the king 

 mackerel is marked by a narrow brownish stripe 

 running from close behind each pectoral fin to the 

 base of the caudal, crossing the lateral fine as the 

 latter bows downward below the second dorsal fin. 

 Its side spots, too, are mostly below the lateral line 

 and arranged in rows, whereas the spots of the 

 Spanish mackerel are irregularly scattered, with 

 about as many above the lateral fine as below it. 



Size. — Said to reach 35 pounds, but the average 

 weight is between 5 and 10 pounds. 



General range. — Atlantic Coast of North Amer- 

 ica, Cape Cod to Brazil, abundant among the West 

 Indies and around southern Florida. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This southern 

 fish is recorded by Dr. W. C. Kendall at Monomoy, 

 at the southern elbow of Cape Cod, but it has not 

 been taken elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine. 



Figure 183. — King mackerel (Scomberomorus regalis), Key West, Florida. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd 



