354 FISHES. 



CHAPTER V. THE MACKEREL FAMILY. 



Of somewhat less importance in this country than with 

 some Continental nations, the present family furnishes at 

 any rate one important food -fish. All the members of 

 this group are rapid swimmers, seeking their food at, 

 or near, the surface. This has been connected by some 

 authorities with the well-known difficulty of keeping their 

 flesh from rapid deterioration. Nor, with the important 

 exception of the tunny, can their flesh be regarded as 

 particularly suitable for purposes of canning. 



The type of this family, the beautiful blue-and-silvery 

 Mackerel, is one of the most abundant and familiar fishes 



of our seas, in which, however, its goings and 

 Mackerel. . , ,-, ,, 



comings appear almost the result or caprice, 



and still occasion a considerable amount of confusion. 



The most familiar form of this fish has the belly silvery, 

 with purple reflections, and deep bands down the sides ; 

 but there is a not uncommon form having numerous spots 

 on the back. For the rest, the mackerel is an elegant 

 tapering fish, the tail -fin large and deeply forked, and 

 having small keels above it. There are also a number of 

 finlets above and beneath the tail end of the body. 

 Besides undertaking migrations of considerable extent, 

 which, yet unexplained, are believed to depend largely on 

 temperature, the mackerel performs two regular seasonal 



