COMPARATTSE STUDY OF SCOMBROID FLSHES. 4x7 



loug. Minute scales are found all over the Ixxly. Lateral line undulating, 

 making a niarked cun'o behind the second dorail. Scales on the lateral hue 

 are alxiut 230 in niuuber. Teeth in jaws short, triangular, nearly straight, 

 much compressefl, and very minutely serrated as in Acanthocylium. There are 

 about 30 in the upjxn- and 20 in the lower jaw. Teeth on the vomer and 

 jmlatines are very minute, granular and indistinct, as Kluxzingeb rightly 

 remarked " viele rauhe Plättchen." The intestine is very long, and bent four 

 times. Air-bladder present. Ltiteral keel of tlie caudal peduncle rather low. 

 Back greyish blue, and the Ix'lly silvery. On side of the body abuut fifty 

 transverse bands wliich fade gradually towards the ventral median line. In 

 young sfjecimens these bands are represented as elongated dots on the sides 

 and very few in umiilÄi'. With the growth of tlie fish, these markings elongate 

 and increase in number. Mouth cavity nearly col-iurless. 



The flesh is said to be fetty but firm, and is superior in taste to that of 

 our common seerfish, CyKitm niphoninm. Spawning season seems to be in 

 spring, when they visit tlao coast of Taiwan in scli )oLs. In July immature 

 fishes of about ten cm. are found in Taiwan, and immature fishes of about 

 twenty cm. in the markets of south China in autumn. 



The first specimen caught in Japm proper and identified as belonging to 

 this s^x«ie3 was found by Mr. YoZO Nakajima, at the northern coast of 

 Yamaguchi-ken, and was sent to n.e for identification, in Dt«. 1914. The 

 fish measured 126 cm in the total length, and 20 kg in weight. According 

 to Mr. jSakajima this species is caught on the Japan Sea coast of Yamaguchi- 

 ken from Octolxjr to January, in fixed seines or giU-uets for Seriola quinque- 

 radiota. Only two or three are caught in a haul. Here they seem never 

 to come to a ground shallower than 30 metres. 



This species is abimdant on the west coast of Taiwan in winter and 

 spring. It is veiy widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region, lx>ing known 

 in New Guinea, East India, India, Bed Sea, Cape of Good Hope, Samoa, and 

 Austraha. Mr. K. Miyagami collected many immatiu'e specimens in autumn 

 in southern China, and a few stragglers are caught on lx>th sides of the Strait 

 of Chosen in autumn and winter. Tliis s^xxies is ronuu-kable for migrating to 

 the north in cold months and to the south iu warm montlis. Large schools 

 are hauled in Taiwan iu a seine or caught with ti'oll-lines, set nets, or drift 



