294 



AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



BLUEFISH. SNAPPING MACKEEEL. SKIP-JACK. 



TAILOR. 



Temnodon saltator. 



Body oblong, compressed, thicker above, and almost as 

 sharp below as the Shad, though the belly is not as completely 

 carinated. Head large, profile slightly convex ; mouth large, 

 lower jaw slightly longer than the upper; both jaws are 

 armed with straight, compressed, lancet-shaped teeth, the 

 upper jaw having also an internal, but less extensive, row ; 

 the vomer, palate, and pharyngeal bones have minute brush- 

 like teeth. Branchial rays, seven. Fins : the first dorsal has 

 eight weak spines, which Holbrook says are enclosed in a 

 sheath or groove ; this I have failed to observe ; the second 

 has twenty-seven rays; pectorals sixteen rays; ventral, one 

 spine and five soft rays ; anal, twenty-eight soft rays ; the 

 caudal is deeply forked, has twenty rays, and is covered three- 

 fourths of its length with minute scales. Color, green on the 

 back, shading gradually to a silvery white on sides and belly. 



This fish sometimes reaches the extreme length of three 

 feet, though the average of those taken in our inlets and 

 bays is not over two or three pounds. 



Bluefish are found all along the Atlantic coast from Maine 

 to Florida ; the smaller fish frequenting the bays and inlets ; 

 the larger are found outside, but within soundings. 



