The Mackerel Family 279 



schools as the Spanish mackerel, and does not 

 accompany it in its wanderings into the bays or 

 along the shores, but seeks the same localities, 

 and is of similar habits, as the kingfish-mackerel. 

 It feeds entirely on fishes. Its breeding habits 

 have not been studied, though they are doubtless 

 not unlike those of the Spanish mackerel, except 

 as to the locality and season of depositing its 

 eggs. Its usual weight is five or six pounds, 

 though it sometimes grows to five feet in length 

 and twenty pounds or more in weight. 



I have taken it with bone and block-tin squids, 

 trolling from a yacht, and also from an anchored 

 boat with rod and line, by casting mullet or 

 sardines for bait. A striped-bass rod and tackle 

 are suitable, as it is a strong and powerful fish, 

 making extraordinary leaps when hooked. For 

 its weight I know of no gamer fish, but my expe- 

 rience in rod-fishing has been somewhat limited, 

 being confined to the capture of half a dozen fish. 



I was once yachting along the Florida keys, 

 and while anchored near Bahia Honda I put 

 off in the dinghy to cast mullet bait for cero 

 and kingfish {Scomberofjzorus cavalla). The lat- 

 ter is a near relative of the cero, and they re- 

 semble each other so closely that it is often 



