Chapter II 



Characteristics of the Skipjack 



Just what kind of a fish is this skipjack, ii^ich siiits so well the 

 taste of tne Japanese and is so particularly prized by them? 



Taxonomically, it belongs to the mackerel familyo It is rather short 

 and stout and only slightly flattened laterally sc that the outline of a 

 cross=section is nearly cvalo The snout is pointed and there are ho 

 scales except on the corseleto The first dorsal has 15 spines and the 

 second dorsal has 2 spines and 13 rays and eight finletSe The anal fin 

 has 2 spines and 13 rays and seven finlets,, The upper part of the body is 

 a dull blue and the lower part is silvery white « There are from four to 

 ten longitudinal dark blue stripes along the sides of the bodyo As the 

 fish increases in sizej their number decreases,, The fish originate 

 mainly in the tropics, and in the summer and autumnj they migrate along 

 the warm currents to distant Hokkaido o The skipjack attains a length of 2 

 feet, 10 inches, and a weight of aro^^nd 5 kan i Al„35_lbs. J7„ This fish 

 also occurs in the Atlantic and the Mediterranaais,, L Fig„ 3 follows this 

 page_7o 



In the following discussion of the skipjack fishery, we have, for the 

 sake of convenience, divided the ocean into areas in accordance with the 

 divisions in use hitherto as shown in Figure 2„ 



(a) Northeastern Area (or Sanriku Area) ■=■= the area north of a line drawn 

 southeast from Noj°ima Saki,, 



(b) Zunan Area =■= the area east of a line drawn due south from Omae Saki 

 and extending to the limits of the Northeastern Area^ 



(c) Kinan Area (Naiokaidc- Ares'! =•= the area east of a line drawn due south 

 from Hi Saki and extending -to the limits of the Zunan Area„ 



(d) SatTSunan Area — the area east of a line drawn from Noma Saki to Fuki 

 Kaku (Taiwan) and extending to the Kinan Area„ 



(e) South Seas Area ■=- the area sotrfch of the latitude of Anpin Anchorage in 

 Taiwan o 



(f) Northwestern Area -•= the area west of the Satsunan Area. Figo 2 -= Sea 

 Areas, 



Section 1 Outline of the Distribution 



lo Skipjack of Japan 



The skipjack which come into Japanese waters come north from the South 

 Seas in the warm rraters of the Kuroshio or Japan Currento The northern 

 equatorial currentc, str- ...ig the Philippines, turns northward and passes 

 along the east coast oi Taiwan and the islands of Okinawa into the adjacent 



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