712 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 

 Family SCOMBRIDiE. 



Mackerels. 



Body not much compressed, covered with minute cycloid scales (or 

 naked) ; head conical ; jaws with sharp teeth ; dorsal fins two, the 

 first of weak spines depressible in a groove; tail slender, keeled; 

 caudal fin falcate ; ventrals thoracic ; vertebne more than twenty-five. 



SCOMBER, L. 



S. pneumatophorus, Delar. {grex, dekayi, colias?* &c.) Chub Mackerel. 

 Fall Mackerel. Easter Mackerel. Tinker Mackerel. 



Body fusiform ; two small keels on each side of tail ; one row 

 of slender teeth in jaws ; first dorsal of nine slender spines ; 

 quite a space in front of second, which is followed by a series of 

 five finlets ; anal similar ; color blue, with twenty wavy, blackish 

 streaks and reticulations, enclosing pale blue spots ; silvery 

 below. Lateral line, 200 scales ; length, 1 foot. 



" Quite abundant on the coast during October and November, 

 Straggling specimens occasionally met with in the bays and 

 inlets." 



S. scombrus, L. [vernalis.) Common Mackerel. 



Lustrous dark blue above, with thirty-five wavy streaks ; 

 silvery below ; base of pectorals dark ; snout long, pointed ; 

 ventrals and pectorals short. Length, 18 inches. 



" This well-known species is quite abundant during the fishing 

 season on the banks oflP Barnegat, where they were caught by 

 the writer in 1862."— [C. C. A.] 



AUXIS, Cuv. 

 A. thazard, hac. {rochei, vtdgaris, bisus, &c.) Frigate Mackerel. 



Body plump, naked behind ; small scales anteriorly ; a " corse- 

 let " of large scales in pectoral region ; mouth small ; teeth 

 small ; tail slender, with large keel on each side ; seven to eight 

 finlets behind second dorsal and anal ; vertebrae thirty-nine, 



*S. colias is the Spanish mackerel of Europe, which has been introduced upon our 

 coast by the U. S. Fish Commission. This has a longer head, lower dorsal fin; the 

 dark bands are narrower and belly is not immaculate. May be considered as a distinct 

 species rather than a variety. 



