THE SEA FISHERIES OP EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 187 



cents, and 40 cents per pound. Others from 20 cents to 25 cents, very few bringing 

 less than 8 and 10 cents a pound as fresh fish. 



Q. What kiuds offish are they which bring the high price of a dollar a pound?—- 

 A. The pompano, which is the highest-priced fish. 

 By Sir Alexander Galt : 



Q. To what size does it grow ? — A. Three pounds is the maximum. It is more gen- 

 erally one pound. The pompano brings one dollar per pound when it is freshly 

 caught. Sometimes when it is brought to New York and kept for a long time the 

 price may come down. I know one occasion when it was sold at 10 cents a pound ; 

 but the fish was not marketable and should not have been sold. The next best fish is 

 Spanish mackerel, a fish of remarkable excellence. 



By Mr. Dana : 



Q. In New York market at the proper season what does it bring? — A. I dou't sup- 

 pose it is ever sold under 25 cents per pound, and from that to 40 cents. 



Q. Is that a mackerel ? — A. It belongs to the mackerel family, and weighs about 

 3 pounds. There is the cero, a kind of Spanish mackerel, which goes up to 15 pounds. 

 Those are all found from Cape Cod to Florida along the entire coast. There is the 

 scup, which occurs from Florida to Cape Cod in great abundance. 



Q. The scup is found in great abundance off the south coast of Massachusetts and 

 Rhode Island ? — A. Yes. There is also sea bass, which is one of the finest of the Amer- 

 ican fish, and is worth from 18 cents to 25 cents per pound. 



Q. How many pounds do they average in weight? — A. From 1 to 4 pounds; 3 

 pounds is a large fish. 



Q. They are found in abundance on the south coast of New England ? — A. Yes; 

 very abundant. There is also the kingfish and the bonito, which is a very important 

 fish. 



Q. There is a fish of that character extending from Block Island away down to Cape 

 Hatteras 1 — A. It is one of the same family. It weighs up to 5 pounds. I have seen 

 five thousand of those fish taken at a single time in a fishing pound at Menemsha 

 Bight. There is the bluefish, which is tho piece de resistance. There is the squeteague ; 

 of that fish I have seen 25,000 pounds taken at a haul. 



Q. The bluefish is a great fish in the market ? — A. It is the principal fresh fish dur- 

 ing the summer season on the coast of the United States from Cape Cod to North Car- 

 olina. 



Q. Caught all along the shores ? — A. All along the coast, being most abundant in 

 the summer season toward Cape Cod, and in winter in North Carolina. 



Q. There is a great drift through Vineyard Sound 1 — A. There is a numerous catch. 



Q. Are not the people on the southern coast of Massachusetts, and on the coast of 

 Rhode Island, now very much engaged in catching fresh fish ? — A. Very largely, tak- 

 ing them in pounds and gill-nets, and other modes of capture. 



Q. Is this apart of the development of the fresh fish market? — A. Yes. Since blue- 

 fish has come back to the coast it has constituted an enormous element in the supply 

 of fresh fish ; it is not the controlling element, but it is the largest single element, 

 although combining the striped bass, squeteague, mullet, and scup, they considerably 

 outnumber the bluefish. [Photographs of the fish referred to were exhibited.] 



Q. What about tautog ? — A. It is an important fish, but is not in such immense 

 abundance. While you talk of tautog being caught in thousands of pounds, you talk 

 of others by hundreds of thousands or by millions. 



Q. Pounds are very common on the American coast ? — A. It constitutes the princi- 

 pal mode of summer fishing from round Cape Cod as far west as Long Island. Nearly 

 all the fish taken on that coast are caught in the pounds. Tho small tunny is a fish 

 which of late years has come into notice, and it is believed to have disturbed the 

 mackerel aud menhaden this year. It was never recorded till I found it in 1871 in 

 Martha's Vineyard, where it was in enormous numbers. It is a fish weighing about 

 25 pounds, and it is something like the horse mackerel, but they never grow more than 



