156 FISHES OF AUSTRALIA. 



In Victoria and Western Australia this fish is known 

 as "Skipjack," while in Queensland, the native name of 

 "Pombah" is sometimes used. 



It grows to a length of about 3 feet. 

 The following interesting notes in regard to the habits 

 of the species under consideration are from Jordan and 

 Evermann. They speak of it, of course, as the "Bluefish, ' 

 and say: 



"The bluefish is a carnivorous animal of the most pro- 

 nounced type. As Professor Baird has well said, there ; s 

 no parallel to the bluefish in point of destructiveness, to the 

 marine species on our coast. It has been likened to an 

 animated chopping-machine, the business of which is to cut 

 to pieces and otherwise destroy as many fish as possible, 

 in a given space of time. Going in large schools, in pursuit 

 of fish not much inferior to themselves in size, they move 

 alons" like a pack of hungry wolves, destroying everything 

 before them. Their trail is marked by fragments of fish 

 and by the stain of blood in the sea, as, when the fish is 

 too large to be swallowed entire, the hinder portion will 

 be bitten off and the anterior part allowed to float or sink. 

 It has been even maintained, that such is the gluttony of 

 this fish, that when the stomach becomes full, the contents 

 are disgorged and then again filled! It is certain that it 

 kills more fish than it needs or can use. The amount of 

 food they consume or destroy is incredibly great. It has 

 been estimated at twice the weight of the fish in a day, and 

 one observer says that a bluefish will destroy daily a thou- 

 sand other fish. It has been estimated that there are annually 

 on our coast from New Jersey to Mononomy a thousand 

 million bluefish averaging 5 or 6 pounds each in weight, 

 and that these eat or destroy at the lowest estimate 10 fish 

 each every day. And as the bluefish remain on this coast 

 at least 120 days, the total destruction amounts in round 

 numbers to twelve hundred million millions of fish destroyed 

 in a single season by this species. These would weigh at 

 least three hundred thousand million pounds. And it must 

 be remembered that in this estimate no account has been 

 taken of those destroyed by bluefish under 3 pounds in 



