200 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



Fig. 63. Scene on Noyo River showing- salmon fishing boats. Wonacotes photo. 



NOTES FROM THE STATE FISHERIES LABORATORY. 



By Will F. Thompson aud Elmer Higgins. 



THE RECURRENCE OF THE FRIGATE 

 MACKEREL. 



In California Fish and Game for 

 October, 1918 (Volume 4, Number 4, 

 page 183), the first occurrence of the 

 frigate mackerel, Auxis flmzard, was 

 noted. This was one of the remarkable 

 features of the unusual summer season of 

 1918. At that time small catches were 

 made in company with catches of skipjack 

 {Euthynnus), yellow-fin tuna and some 

 mackerel (tScomher). Th-s year slightly 

 larger individual boat catches were made 

 of the frigate mackerel, but as the ma- 

 jority of the canneries refused them, they 

 were not brought in as often. One catch 

 of five tons was recorded by a single 

 boat on the nineteenth of August. The 

 first noted by the writer came in on the 



♦California State Fisheries Laboratory, 

 Contribution No. 12. 



seventeenth of August, and the last on the 

 twenty-second. Other catches at earlier 

 and later dates were undoubtedly made, 

 but the data have not yet been obtained 

 from the statistical records. The average 

 weight of these fish was 1.3 pounds before 

 cleaning, aud the loss of weight in clean- 

 ing and preparing for canning was very 

 high. Therefore those canneries which 

 accepted the species at the start of the 

 run later refused to take any except for 

 fertilizer. 



It may be noted in connection with 

 this species that mention of very young 

 tuna or albacore may refer to the taking 

 or observation of schools of the frigate 

 mackerel. Fishermen unfamiliar with 

 them, as was usually the case, were in- 

 clined to promptly refer them to the 

 young of other species of the tuna group, 

 frequently the blue-fin. — W. F. T. 



