42 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



5. The Bonito. 



Body elongate; cone-shaped teeth on 

 jaws and roof of mouth ; dark blue 

 above, with oblique stripes: 21 

 spines in first dorsal fin. 



b. Species in which a weU-developed corslet is not present. 



6. The Spanish Mackerel. 



Sides with many elliptical spots of 

 yellowish bronj^e color; fins with 

 white, black, and yellow. 



7. The Kingflsh. 



Sides with two blackish, longitudinal 

 stripes and numerous, brownish 

 spots. 



THE CO:\i:\ION :\IACKEREL. 



(Scomber scombrus.) 



PLATE IV. 



I. Distribution and Habitat. — The home of the common mackerel 

 is the North Atlantic Ocean. On the American coast its southern 

 limit is off Cape Hatteras. Here they are taken in the spring by 

 the New England mackerel boats in w^ater at some distance from the 

 shore. Throughout the summer they are abundant along the coast 

 of the jNIiddle States and of New England and in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence. They are not found in any numbers in shoal water south of 

 Long Island, although stragglers are sometimes found in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay and in the sounds about Cape Hatteras in the latter part 

 of the summer. The natural northward limit of the species seems 

 to be not far from the Straits of Belle Isle, though in exceptional 



