FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



383 



it should be grouped with the sea-bass tribe ac- 

 cording to another view because of skeletal 

 characters. 



Blucfish Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus) 1758 8 * 

 Snapper (Young) 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 946. 



Description. — According to Jordan and Ever- 

 mann, and to most of their successors, the bluefish 

 is separable from its closest allies, the pompanos 

 (Carangidae), by a tail "not deeply forked" and 

 by larger scales, statements that may easily be 

 misleading, for while the bluefish certainly bas a 

 less deeply forked tail than the pompanos, anyone, 

 we think, would describe it as deeply forked as 

 compared with any square-tailed fish. And while 

 its scales are larger than those of most pompanos 

 there is not much difference in this respect be- 

 tween a bluefish and a large crevalle (p. 375). 

 There is, however, one positive point of difference. 

 The jaws of the bluefish, upper as well as lower, 

 are armed all around with a single series of stout, 

 conical, canine teeth (one-eighth to one- fourth of 

 an inch long in a fish of about 10 pounds), whereas 

 the crevalle alone of northern pompanos has 

 canines, and only two of them. Furthermore, the 

 caudal peduncle of the bluefish is stouter than that 

 of any pompano. It is sharply differentiated 

 from all mackerels by the absence of dorsal or 

 ventral finlets. 



The bluefish is moderately stout bodied (large 

 ones are about one-fourth as deep as long) ; its 

 belly is flat-sided but blunt-edged below; its caudal 

 peduncle moderately stout (slimmer, however, 



than in many other fish, e. g., striped bass) ; its 

 head deep; its nose moderately pointed; and its 

 mouth large and oblique, with projecting lower 

 jaw, and with prominent canines. "Snappers," 

 as small bluefish are called, are relatively deeper 

 and more flattened sidewise than larger fish. The 

 first dorsal fin (7 or 8 stout spines), originating 

 over the middle of the pectorals, is low, rounded, 

 depressible in a groove. It is separated by only a 

 very short interval from the second dorsal, which is 

 more than twice as long as the first (about 23 to 26 

 soft rays) and about twice as high, tapering back- 

 ward with slightly concave margin. The anal fin 

 (25 to 27 rays) is similar in form to the second 

 dorsal though with a somewhat less concave outer 

 margin; it originates somewhat farther back and is 

 preceded by two very short detached spines that 

 are often hidden in the skin. The caudal is broad 

 and forked, moderately or deeply according to the 

 other fish with which it is compared. The ventrals 

 and pectorals are both of moderate size. The 

 body, most of the head, and also the second dorsal 

 and anal fins are clothed with medium-sized scales. 

 There are no shields or keeled scales along the 

 lateral line nor is the caudal peduncle keeled. 



Color.- — Sea-green above; silvery below. The 

 second dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins are of the 

 general body tint, the latter with a black blotch at 

 the base. 



Size.- — Maximum length about 3}i feet. The 

 heaviest American fish of which we find definite 

 record within recent years was 3 feet 9 inches long, 

 weighing 27 pounds, 86 caught off Nantucket in 

 1903. One of 20 pounds was taken off Montauk, 

 N. Y., in August 1951. 86 It is said that fish of 30 

 or even 50 pounds were not unheard of during the 



M This fish has been known by various vernacular names along the middle 

 and southern coasts of the United States. But it is the "bluefish" in the 

 Gulf of Maine. 



«' Smith, Forest and Stream, vol. 61, October 10, 1903, p. 283. 

 » Reported in Salt Water Sportsman, August 17, 1951. 



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Figure 208. — Bluefish {.Pomatomus saltatrix). From Jordan and Evermann. Drawing by H. L. Todd, from a cast. 



