SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 



191 



The fish attains a large siza, 9 or 10 pounds being the normal maximum. 

 Very exceptionally, however, it becomes larger; and a few years ago one was 

 found in the Washington (D. C.) market from Chesapeake Bay which was 41 

 inches long and weighed 25 pounds; it was seen and identified by Professor B. W. 

 Evermann and others from the United States Bureau of Fisheries. 



The fish doubtless spawns throughout its entire range on the United States 

 coast, but, as shown hereafter, apparently very few remain on the North Caro- 

 lina coast during the spawning season. The lower part of Chesapeake Bay was 

 formerly and is still a favorite spawning ground. The eggs are about 1mm. 

 (.04 inch) in diameter, and float at the surface; they are laid mostly at night, and 

 the hatching period is about 25 hours in a water temperature of 77° or 78° F. 

 All the eggs of a given fish do not ripen at one time, and the spawning may thus 

 extend over several weeks during which several hundred thousand eggs may be 

 deposited. 



Fig. 77. Spanish Mackerel. Scotnberomorus maculatus. 



As a food fish the Spanish mackerel is one of the choicest species of our east 

 coast, being hardly surpassed by any species except the pompano. Dr. Coker 

 contributes the following interesting account of its economic importance on the 

 North Carolina coast: 



The Spanish mackerel are, regularly, the highest priced fish of our waters, the fishermen 

 not infrequently receiving 40 cents each for them. They are practically all shipped to markets 

 north of North Carolina, except that when not abundant enough for separate shipment, they 

 are put into boxes of assorted fish for state markets. 



The mackerel season commences in May and the best catch is in early June; mackerel 

 contracts used to close June 10, but now run somewhat later. Few fish, however, are caught 

 after the middle of June, and while all during the summer there are a few scattered mackerel 

 about, there is no fishing again until fall, when they reappear in large numbers, in September, 

 and especially October. After the first of November it is unusual to find any number of 

 mackerel. 



The view of the fish-shippers as to the mo\ements of this fish is probably correct. In 

 the spring the schools of mackerel are coming from the south. At this season they are com- 

 paratively poor and have a roe that is not quite ripe. A few remain here but the mass pass on 

 north, and somewhere north of us spawn and fatten. With the first '"shift of wind" (to the 

 north) in September, the scattered mackerel here school up and start south. They are suc- 

 ceeded by schools from farther north, which are accountable for the later fall catches. Now 

 they are without roe and fat — with an average weight of about 3 pounds, as opposed to barely 

 over 2 pounds in the spring. The largest mackerel caught are a little over 11 poundg. 



