EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 93 



According to Giiutlier all true Scombrid fishes liave more than ten 

 abdomiDal, and more than fourteen caudal vertebrse. Along with the Gadidce^ 

 Clupeidce, and Salmon idee, the members of this family are most useful to 

 mankind. He goes on to say: — -" They are fishes of prey, and unceasingly 

 active, theii' power of endurance in swimming being equal to the rapidity 

 of their motions. Their muscles receive a greater supply of blood vessels 

 and nerves than in other fishes, and are of a red color, and more like those of 

 birds or mammals. This energy of muscular action causes the temperature 

 of their blood to be several degrees higher than in other fishes. They wander 

 about in shoals, spawn in the open sea, but periodically approach the shore, 

 probably in pursuit of other fishes on which they feed." And again : — 

 " Mackerel, like other marine fishes, birds, and mammals of prey, follow the 

 shoals of young and adult Clupeids in their periodical migrations ; on the 

 British coasts it is principally the fry of the Pilchard and Sprat w'hicli 

 wanders from the open sea towards the coast, and guides the movements of 

 the Mackerel." 



Day remai'ks: — " Fishes of the Mackerel family are pelagic forms, readily 

 distinguishable by their elegant shapes and brilliant colors, while they are 

 mostly highly prized for the table. Carnivorous and exceedingly active, their 

 shapes are well adapted to enable them to glide rapidly through the water ; 

 w^iile to obviate the least impediment, w^e even find, in some, depressions for 

 the reception of the pectoral fins." 



Fossil Scombridos are not uncommon in tertiary formations, the existing 

 genera Scomber, Thynnus, and Ct/lium being represented in the Eocene and 

 Miocene. 



Genus I.— SCOMBER. 



Scomber, sp. Artedi, Genera Pise. p. 30, 173S, 



Scomber, Cuvier, Eegne Anim. ; Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. viii. p. 6, 1881. 



Cordt/Ius, Gray, in Grouow's Syst. Ichthyol. 1854. 



Brauchiostegals seven : pseudobranchise present. Body fusiform, com- 

 pressed. Cleft of mouth deep. Eyes lateral, with adipose lids. Teeth in 

 the jaws small and deciduous : similar teeth present or absent on the vomer 

 and palatine bones. Two dorsal fins, the first continuous, with feeble spines, 

 and separated by an interspace from the second ; the spines fewer in 

 number than the rays of the second dorsal or the anal : five or six finlets 

 behind the rayed dorsal and anal : a preanal spine generally present. Two 

 slight ridges on each side of the root of the caudal fin. Scales very small, 

 equally covering the whole body as a rule. Airbladder present or absent, 

 simple. Pyloric appendages in large numbers. 



Geograpliical distribution. — Almost all the tropical and temperate seas 

 of both hemispheres ; not, as yet, recorded from the Atlantic shores of 

 temperate South America. 



SCOMBER PNEUMATOPHOEUS. 



Scomber pneumatoplionis, De la Roche, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 1809. xiii. pp. 



315,^ 334 ; Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. viii. p. 36 ; Guichen! Explor. 



Alger. Poiss. p. 56 ; Gnth. Catal. Fish. ii. p. 359 ; McCoy, Prodr. Zool. 



Vict. dec. iii. pi. 28. 

 Scomber grex, Mitch. Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. York, p. 422 ; Cuv. & A\al. 



Hist. Nat. Poiss. viii. p. 45 ; Dekay, N. York Faun. Fish. p. 103, pi. xi. 



f. 32. 



