Favorite Food Fishes 



THE NEW YORK MARKET SUPPLIED FROM INLAND AND OCEANIC 



WATERS, NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ATLANTIC SHORE 



FISHERIES. AND VERY CONSIDERABLY 



FROM THE PACIFIC 



Hv .1 ( ) II X T. X I C H O L S 



TO rank as one of the most desiral>le 

 fish in a big market like that of 

 NeAV York City, a species must have 

 otlier things in its favor than mere excel- 

 lence of flesh. To begin with, the number 

 of first-choice fishes is limited by the num- 

 ber of fish names the average consumer finds 

 it worth while to hold in his memory. 

 There is little demand for an unknown ar- 

 ticle. This number varies from about ten 

 to twenty. The first ten in the New York 

 Uiarket arc something like the. folloAving: 

 shad, salmon, smelt, Spanish mackerel, blue- 

 fish, striped bass, kingfish, cod, halibut, and 

 "sole." 



The first six in the list justly earn their 

 preeminence, each having qualities Avhich 

 particularly appeal to certain palates. The 

 position of the salmon doubtless is made 

 still more secure by its long sporting career, 

 and the general difficulty the populace has 

 experienced in obtaining it in the past. At 

 times and places where it has been very 

 abundant in the market it promptly has lost 

 favor. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and 

 striped bass at times are caught locally as 

 game fishes. The bluefish especially has a 

 local reputation as a game fish, which helps 

 its sale for the table. There was a time 

 when the bluefish was not well known here- 

 abouts and there was no sale for it. 



The kingfish is a very delicious little fish 

 Avhich was more abundant near New York 

 City at one time than it is now, and more 

 extensively angled for. This unquestionably 

 helped to bring it to the fore, as did also its 

 regal name. Yarious species of fishes in 

 different parts of the world go by the name 

 kingfish, and these, so far as I am aware, 

 are always esteemed as food. The kingfish 

 in this vicinity is a small species allied to 

 the weakfish and drum. The kingfish of 

 Florida is a large mackerel not only sought 

 for sport but also holding a high jjlaee on 

 bills of fare in the South. New York im- 

 6fi 



l)0rts a large quantity of this fish. In New 

 Yoi'k, however, the name kingfish is preoc- 

 cupied, and the southern fish therefore is 

 marketed as sering, becoming one of the less 

 desirable and cheaper fishes. A delicious 

 fish the size of a smelt is called kingfish, or 

 to be more exact, pez-el-rey, in Argentina. 

 Some years ago, I remember, a ship north- 

 bound from that part of the world brought 

 some of these southern fish on ice to the 

 New York market, whence one of them came 

 into the hands of the American Museum of 

 Natural History. The Museum had at first 

 no inkling as to its place of origin and was 

 inclined to consider it a species new to sci- 

 ence, as it certainb' differed from any fish 

 caught locally and even from those species 

 Avhich might have been im])orted from the 

 Pacific coast. 



Cod and halibut are nortliern fishes which 

 were obtainable in large quantities by early 

 English fishermen. Their appreciation is 

 traditional with the Anglo-Saxon race, 

 which accounts in part for the high esteem 

 in which they are held. They belong to that 

 group of fishes Avhose general southern limit 

 lies about in the vicinity of Cape Cod. It is 

 natural, therefore, to find them occupying 

 an even more important place in the market 

 of Boston than in New York. 



The name "sole" has an imjjortant place 

 on bills of fare, doubtless due to the justly 

 earned reputation of an abundant and de- 

 licious European species of the name. The 

 writer has never seen true sole served on this 

 side of the Atlantic, however, save on an 

 ocean steamer lying in New Yoi'k harbor. 

 The demand for "filet of sole" is filled very 

 largely by flounders of various species, excel- 

 lent fish to be sure but not notable above 

 many others. Of late years a particular 

 species of flounder has appeared in the mar- 

 ket Avhich through usage is acquiring a right 

 to the name "sole," or "lemon sole." This 

 is a deep-water form (Ghjptocephalus) which 



