296 SCOMBEROIDES. 



Mackerel, — Scomber Scomber. This com- 

 mon fish has a head compressed and smooth ; the 

 body is also smooth ; the lateral line carinate ; has 

 several spurious fins, ofi;entimes observed between 

 the dorsal fin and caudal. Twenty two species are 

 thought to be known to icthyologists, distinguished 

 by having or not having spurious fins ; those 

 which have the spurious, are divided into those 

 having them distinct and those having them con- 

 nected together. 



Three species are found near Massachusetts by 

 the fishermen. Occasional stragglers are proba- 

 bly taken, but are not recognised as such. 



The common mackerel of commerce is certain- 

 ly one of the most beautiful fish in our w^aters, so 

 familiar, that it is almost needless to describe its 

 figure. It has, till very recently, been supposed 

 that the mackerel was a migratory fish, retiring, 

 towards winter, to the polar regions, where it pro- 

 tected itself from the intense cold, by keeping under 

 the vast mountains of ice. Lately, it has been as- 

 serted, but on rather doubtful authority, that this 

 fish remains on the coast through the year, imbed- 

 ded during the severity of the winter, in the soft 

 mud but a few leagues from the coast. 



The following subjoined letter to the author, 

 from Capt. Couthouy, a highly intelligent navi- 

 gator of Boston, not only on the subject of their 



