388 MODERN SEA FISHING 



The HORSE MACKEREL or SCAD is, according to naturalists, . 

 not a mackerel at all, but a member of the Carangidce family, 

 and has none of the usual markings on its back. A glance at 

 its back fins will suffice to distinguish it from the common 

 mackerel. In Scomber scomber the two dorsal fins are set wide 

 apart, but in the scad they almost meet, and close to its anal 

 fin are two spinous defensive weapons which the angler should 

 avoid with care. A striking peculiarity of this fish is a lateral 

 line, which crosses a number of scale plates so formed that 

 they give the fish the appearance of having an external back- 

 bone on each side. These fish, which are common off 

 Cornwall and are found all round our coasts, are fished for in 

 just the same way as the mackerel, and take all the usual 

 mackerel baits. They feed best at and after dusk. 



The GARFISH, often found swimming with the mackerel 

 shoals, is one of the most curious fish of the sea. It is long, 

 ed-bhaped, with a beak almost like a snipe ; the lower jaw, if 

 jaw it can be called, projecting ; the back a beautiful bluish- 

 green, and the sides glistening with silver. This savage little 

 fish, Belone vulgaris, is classed by naturalists in the same family 

 (Scombresocidce) as the flying fish. Of names it has enough and 

 to spare : long-nose, gorebill, sea-needle, mackerel-guide, needle- 

 fish, gar-pipe, horn-fish, guard-fish, green-back, and- green-bone, 

 In Scotland they call it the sword-fish, the green-ben, and green- 

 bane. On the east coast of Ireland it is called the horn-eel, 

 mackerel scout, and spearling. 



Garfish favour cold and temperate rather than tropical 

 waters, and are found all round the British and Irish coasts, 

 being particularly abundant off Kent, Essex, and Cornwall. 

 They are a fish of moderate size, occasionally but very rarely 

 reaching a length of three feet. In some places they swim in 

 shoals, but in others are found singly. A few are nearly always 

 mixed up with the mackerel, whose advent they are supposed 



