REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [16] 



Laden bait, which is thrown out to them by the fishing- vessels, shows 

 that they are not at all dainty in their diet, and will swallow without 

 hesitation any kind of floating organic matter. 



Large mackerel often eat smaller ones. Captain Collins has frequently 

 found young mackerel three or four inches long in the stomachs of those 

 full grown. This is generally noticeable only in the fall, and the young 

 fish are probably those which have been hatched in the spring. 



In the fall of 1874 the writer made a trip upon a gill-net schooner to 

 the grounds off Portland, Me., some distance to sea, for the purpose of 

 studying the food of the mackerel, and found their stomachs full of a 

 species of Thysanopoda and of a large copepod crustacean. The greater 

 part of the food of mackerel consists, however, of minute crustaceans. 

 Owing to the infinite abundance of these in the sea, mackerel probably 

 have very little difficulty in finding food at almost any portion of the 

 ocean visited by them, whether on the edge of the Gulf Stream or near 

 the shore. 



In an interview with Capt. King Harding, of Swarnpscott, one of the 

 most experienced mackerel catchers on our coasts, I obtained the follow- 

 ing amusing observations: He described one kind which looked like 

 spiders, which were red, and crawled over his hand when he took them up. 

 They look like little spiders; the mackerel are especially fond of them. 

 At Boone Island, Maine, in July, 1850, the water all around the island 

 was red for 100 yards from the shore; they crawled up the rock- weed 

 on the shore until it was red. He took the sprays of rock- weed in his 

 hand and pulled them slowly to him, and the mackerel, one and a half 

 pound fish, would follow in quite to the rocks. He killed three with his 

 oar, and tried to catch some in a basket by tolling them over it, but 

 they were too quick for him. He asked his old skipper, Capt. Gorham 

 Babson, what they were, and was told that they were "Boone Island 

 Bed Bugs." And, said he, "Young man, when you see this kind of 

 bait, no matter if you don't see any fish, never leave; the fish will be 

 there in a few days." 



Then there is another kind, called " Snappers." These are white, and 

 dart rapidly about in the water; they are doirbtless small crustaceans. 

 He says that sometimes they swim at the surface, where the mackerel 

 follow them. A few days before he had been standing on the stern of 

 his vessel, and though he could see nothing under the water he knew 

 the snappers were there about two feet below the surface, for he could 

 see a school of mackerel swimming along, opening their mouths and 

 taking in their food, and then letting the water out through their gills. 



When the mackerel are tolled up from 12 or 15 fathoms below the 

 surface their stomachs are often full of bait; so it is certain that these 

 little animals swim at all depths. 



Another kind of food is red, and is hot to the hands. This is called 

 "Cayenne"; it spoils the fish. 



