120 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 
of the side. The lower part of the side is usually more or less mottled 
with dusky blotches. 
In California, though we call this fish the mackerel, without differen- 
tiating it from the true mackerel of the Atlantic, we must remember 
that it is a very different fish. It differs particularly in having an air 
bladder which is entirely lacking in the true mackerel. Its dark bars 
are not so clearly cut, and it has a larger eye. The true mackerel has 
no dusky mottled spots on the lower part of the side, and there are 
several other differences. 
This mackerel is widely distributed over the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans, being found north to England, Maine and San Francisco. It 
is common in the Mediterranean and in southern California. It may 
be that more than one species is found in this wide range, but no one 
has as yet found any characters that are constant enough to separate it. 
It is known as the chub, or thimble eyed, or tinker mackerel on the East 
coast. It is somewhat inferior to the true mackerel, but nevertheless 
it is a good and important food fish, particularly good broiled or baked, 
and attention is now being directed towards canning it, or salting it in 
wooden kits as the Eastern mackerel is. Recent Atlantic coast quota- 
tions (early May) list this fish under the name of tinker mackerel at 
from 28 cents to 35 cents a pound in the wholesale market. It retails 
in California at 10 cents a pound. 
(The Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus sierra). 
The Spanish mackerel may he known by the long slender body, the 
teeth flattened and dagger-shaped, the spinous dorsal long and with 
little space between it and the second dorsal, and particularly by the 
spots on the side of the body. The maxillary reaches to below the hind 
Fig. 64. The Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus sierra). 
border of the eye. The length cf the head is equal to, or exceeds but 
little, the greatest depth of the body. It has 9 finlets behind the dorsal 
and the anal. The color is.silvery on the side and lower parts and 
dark blue on the back. On the side are five or six rows of elliptical 
spots of bluish or dull orange color. 
' This fish is common on the Pacific coast of Mexico and has been 
reported in some abundance off San Diego. It is hoped that when 
it is next seen within our waters its occurrence may be reported to the 
Fish and Game Commission in San Francisco and if possible a speci- 
men saved. 
