FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 39 



white and the other fins are black or a dark bhie color. Upon the 

 sides are six or eight stripes paralled to each other. These stripes 

 alone should serve to identify the fish. The bonito visits us in 

 August and September, at the same time as their nobler brother, the 

 Spanish mackerel, and these last being worth in the market twenty 

 and twenty-five cents per pound and the bonito about six cents, 

 there is a vast deal of imposition j)racticed by the marketmen, es- 

 pecially the smaller dealers outside of the market. The two fish 

 look, somewhat alike but their flavors are miles ajDart. The bonito 

 is coarse and not very good, but the Spanish mackerel is one of the 

 greatest luxuries taken from the sea. 



The bonito is frequently caught by blue-fishing parties ; it takes 

 the same bait as the bluefish and often accompanies the bluefish 

 armies, and also sometimes travels in large schools of its own kind. 

 In trolling, which is the only way of taking him with the hook, he 

 seizes the bait with a snap and makes almost as much of a struggle 

 as the bluefish. Those caught for the market are taken in seine 

 nets and when honestly sold are very cheap. Cape Cod seems to be 

 their northern limit, and they are plentiful in the summer months 

 in Massachusetts Bav. 



