SCOMBEROID^. 



627 



the Scomberoidce, anil its generic ones arc peculiar. 

 There is no keel on the tail ; the first dorsal fin is 

 low and feeble, and the second dorsal and the anal 

 are covered with small scales. The principal cha- 

 racters, however, are those of the mouth. The ex- 

 ternal part of both jaws is furnished with a row of 

 large teeth, with sharp or trenchant points, and 

 standing at some distance from each other. Within 

 these, there is another row of smaller ones ; and the 

 vomer, the palatal bones and the tongue, are all 

 thickly set with very minute teeth. So powerful an 

 armature of the mouth, betokens voracity in feeding 1 

 and variety in the food. The fish is a very active 

 one, and springs to a considerable height out of the 

 water. 



CABANZ. The fishes of this genus are well known 

 on the coasts of many parts of Europe, and they are 

 far from being rare on those of Britain. They are 

 called " False Mackarel," or in Britain, " Horse 

 Mackarel ;'' and they are taken much in the same 

 manner, but are considered as being fishes of very 

 inferior quality. The leading generic characters are : 

 the body covered with small scales ; the lateral line 

 having a row of broad scaly plates, which are marked 

 with a keel on the hinder part of the body. These 

 scaly bands are very conspicuous, and extend to the 

 origin of the central rays of the caudal fin, narrowing 

 as they reach that part. The number of these lateral 

 plates varies in the different species ; and in some, 

 the keel is drawn out into a spine upon each plate. 

 There is one spine curved forward in advance of the 

 first dorsal, and two free spines inclining backwards 

 in advance of the anal. The abdominal fins are 

 under the pectorals. There are two distinct dorsals, 

 the front one short, and the second long, beginning 

 opposite to the anal spines, and extending nearly to 

 the beginning of the caudal ; as also does the anal, 

 which resembles the second dorsal both in form and 

 in size, only the first rays are rather longer in propor- 

 tion. 



This genus is widely distributed ; but, unlike the 

 former genus, the species vary much in the different 

 localities, and there are different ones in the same 

 locality. Only one can be regarded as decidedly 

 British, and we shall restrict the few particulars which 

 we can afford to this one. 



The Scad, or Horse-mackarel (Caran.v trachurm}. 

 This fish is not a favourite article of food ; and thus 

 it is seldom taken in proportion to the numbers in 

 which it actually exists, and rarely even in proportion 

 to the numbers which are caught. We believe there 

 are but few places in Britain where it is eaten at all, 

 and none where it can be properly called a market- 

 able fish ; though they are called so in some places. 

 Generally they make their appearance in parties 

 which are not very numerous ; but at other times, 

 they are in immense shoals, and might be taken in 

 vast quantities. A communication from Mr. Bicheno 

 to Mr. Yarrell, is so graphically descriptive, that we 

 shall quote it : " On Tuesday the 29th of July, 1834, 

 we were visited by immense shoals of Scad, or as 

 they are also called, Horse-rnackarel. They were 

 first observed in the evening ; and the whole sea, as 

 far as we could command it with the eye, seemed in 

 a state of fermentation with their numbers. Those 

 who stood on some projecting rock, had only to dip 

 their hands into the water, and with a sudden jerk 

 they might throw up three or four. The bathers felt 

 them come against their bodies ; and the sea, looked 



o.i from above, appeared one dark mass of fish. 

 Every net was immediately put in requisition ; and 

 those which did not give way from the weight, were 

 drawn ashore laden with spoil. One of the party who 

 had a herring-seine with a two-inch mesh, was the 

 most successful ; every mesh held its fish, and formed 

 a wall, which swept on the beach all before it. The 

 quantity is very inadequately expressed by numbers, 

 they were caught by cart-loads. As these shoals 

 were passing us for a week with their heads directed 

 up channel, we had an opportunity of noticing that 

 the feeding time was morning and evening. They 

 were pursuing the fry of the herrings, and I found 

 their stomachs constantly full of them." This is one 

 of the very best accounts of a shoal of fish that ever 

 was written ; and it refutes the opinion stated in 

 many of the books that the scad is a rare fish. They 

 are found all round the coasts ; making their appear- 

 ance, in small straggling parties, as early as April ; 

 but not coming in their full numbers till the hot 

 season. They are very vigorous swimmers, and 

 run on the shores or shallows, and entangle themselves 

 much more frequently than herrings. They do this, 

 not by being caught in storms, which is said to be the 

 cause of grounding in the herrings, but in eager 

 pursuit of their food. The upper part of the scad is 

 clouded with olive, and green and blue, passing into 

 silvery on the under part and the sides of the head. 

 The upper fins dusky, the lower very pale ; a large 

 spot on the gill-cover just over the temporal fin, and 

 also the throat and bottom of the under jaw are black. 

 When the fish are on the coast, they are very readily 

 taken with hook and line. The spawning time is in 

 the very heat of the summer. 



Nearly related to this section of the family, if not 

 actually belonging to it, there are numerous fishes 

 of the tropical seas ; but the history of them is very 

 confused and imperfect, even among the professional 

 zoologists ; and therefore, it is by no means a fit 

 subjt-ct for popular disquisition. There is a very 

 high degree of interest about the fishes which range 

 the wide ocean, and are endowed with powers that 

 enable them to stern the vast swell of these mighty 

 waters ; but their pasture is co-extensive, and seen 

 at so few points, that their history will be long in 

 arriving at any thing like perfection. 



1 VOMER (Ploughshare-fishes). This genus has 

 been formed for the purpose of receiving a consider- 

 able variety of fishes, still having the family charac- 

 ters of the S comberoida; but differing greatly in their 

 appearance frorr the typical mackerel ; and there is 

 a gradation among themselves which made Cuvier 

 feel it necessary to divide them into six sub-genera, 

 placing those upon which the name is founded last 

 in the order of arrangement. The progressive change 

 in them is, that the lateral line becomes less and less 

 armed with keels, plates, or appendages of any kind ; 

 the body more compressed and deeper in proportion 

 to the length, and the skin smoother and more free 

 from scales. Most of them, too, have part of the 

 rays of the fins produced to a very great length ; and 

 the teeth are small, and thickly set together like 

 smooth velvet. The earlier naturalists, who had but 

 few opportunities of observing the fishes of distant 

 seas, included all these in the genus Zeus or Jupiter, 

 which has now been separated ; and even that genus, 

 restricted as it now is, has been very conveniently 

 divided into five subgenera. This part of the family 

 of the Scomberoidce is, indeed, quite a puzzle, because 

 11 R 2 



