62 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Woods Hole it is usually common, though sometimes quite scarce, 

 in traps at Menemsha as many as 1,000 a clay have been taken in 

 July, August, September, and early October. 



It feeds on other fishes, especially mackerel and menhaden. It 

 is an excellent food fish, being scarcely surpassed in this respect by 

 any other. It reaches a length of 2^ feet and sometimes weighs 10 

 or 12 pounds. 



THE SPANISH MACKEREL. 



{Scomheromorus rnacidatus.) 



PLATE VIII. 



The Spanish Mackerel is confined to the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts of America; on the Atlantic coast it ranges from Maine to 

 Brazil. In the West Indies it has been found about Jamaica and 

 Porto Rico, but is said to be unknown at Cuba. 



Like most of the other fishes of this family, the Spanish Mackerel 

 has shown great fluctuations in abundance. In the early part of 

 the last century it was scarcely known. The first definite allusion 

 to the fish in literature was made by Mitchell in 1815. In 1854 Gill 

 referred to it as a species of slight importance. According to Mr. 

 J. M. K. Southwick, the first Spanish Mackerel taken in the vicinity 

 of Newport were found in the summer of 1857. It was not until 

 about 1870 that this fish came in sufficient numbers to be of any 

 importance. 



It is very gregarious in its habits and sometimes forms enormous 

 schools of many square miles in area. " The fish make annual 

 excursions to the coast of the United States in summer; starting 

 from their home in the warmer waters of the South, or, perhaps, from 

 the deeper waters along the inner edge of the Gulf Stream, in the 

 early spring and proceeding northward or landward as the season 

 advances. After remaining for a few weeks, or months at most, 

 they again move southward, or seaward, and at the approach of cold 

 weather entirely disappear. They seem to prefer water ranging 



