FISHES OF NEW YORK 381 



eighths of length of head. The pectoral is one half as long as 

 the head; the fin reaches to below the sixth spine of the dorsal. 

 No air bladder. D. XI-I, 11-Y; A. I, 11-V; V. I, 5; P. I, 16. 



Color dark blue, or greenish blue, above, the upper parts with 

 30 or more wavy transverse bands of a darker hue, these extend- 

 ing below the lateral line and nearly to the median line of the 

 body; beneath the ends of these lines and slightly separated 

 from them is a narrow, longitudinal, dark streak running almost 

 the entire distance from the pectoral to the caudal; top of the 

 head very dark; a dark blotch in the axil of the pectoral; gill 

 covers and jaws silvery; sides white with cupreous reflections; 

 belly white. 



The mackerel is one of the best known food fishes of the north 

 Atlantic, ranging from Norway to Spain in Europe and from 

 Labrador to Cape Hatteras in North America. It reaches the 

 length of 18 inches. The fish is migratory and frequently dis- 

 appears for a short or long period of time from its accustomed 

 localities. On the New York coast the mackerel appears in 

 May and June in great schools, but the number varies greatly in 

 different years. 



Two young, 3] to 5i inches long, were taken in Gravesend bay, 

 L. I., May 23, 189G, in John B. De Nyse's shad fyke. No more 

 were seen, and these were the first for the year. They come 

 about the time of the appearance of anchovy and weakfish. 

 They are often seen swimming at the surface of the bay in small 

 bunches of 18 or 20, occasionally 100, in the latter part of May 

 or early in June. They are always split up into small bunches, 

 probably by the attacks of weakfish and other predaceous spe- 

 cies which are present at the time. Flukes attack them also in 

 shallow water. 



Subgenus pneitmatophorus Jordan & Gilbert 



192 Scomber colias Gmelin 



Chub Maclcerel; TUmUemje MacJ^sral 



ficomher colias Gmelin, L. Syst. Nat. 1329, 1788, Sardinia; De Kay, N. Y. 

 Fauna. Fishes, 104, pi. 11, fig. 33, 1842; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. 866, 1896, pi. CXXXIII, fig. 364, 19O0; Bean, Bull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 360, 1897. 



