FISHES OF NEW YORK 



395 



below the eleventh spine of the dorsal, its length one half the 

 length of head. The lateral line very wavy but with no great 

 curves; the caudal keel nearly as long as the eye and snout com- 

 bined. The corselet is developed only as a narrow stripe ex- 

 tending from the nape to a point a little behind the tip of pec- 

 toral, its width about one fifth of its length, and about equal to 

 eye. D. XX to XXI, 13 to 14-VIlI; A. 14-VI or VII; V. I, 5; 

 P. I, 24. 



Color steel blue above, the sides silvery, the abdomen and 

 under surface of head silvery white; from 10 to 20 dark bluish, 

 narrow bands obliquely downward and forward from the back, 

 some of them almost reaching the belly; iris yellowish; first dor- 

 sal fin sometimes pale, sometimes nearly black; pectoral dark 

 above, light beneath. 



The bonito inhabits the Atlantic ocean on both coasts and is 

 common in the Mediterranean. On our coast it ranges habitu- 

 ally north to Cape Ann. It reaches the length of 30 inches and 

 the weight of 10 or 12 pounds. Though not generally esteemed 

 as a food fish, it meets with a steady sale either fresh or salted, 

 like the mackerel. The fish is believed to live in the open sea, 

 coming to the shores only to feed or to deposit its eggs. It is 

 predaceous and active, feeding insatiably on mackerel and men- 

 haden; it takes trolling bait as freely as the bluefish, to which 

 it is not inferior in quality of flesh. 



The fish is generally scarce in Gravesend bay. Five were 

 taken in one day in a pound net in October 1897, an unusual 

 number for that species. The bonito will not live in captivity. 



Genus scomberomoul's Lac^pMe 

 Body elongate, wholly covered with rudimentary scales, which 

 do not form a distinct corselet; head pointed, comparatively 

 short arid small; mouth wide, the strong teeth in the jaws more 

 or less compressed or knife-shaped; villiform or sandlike teeth 

 on the vomer and palatines; maxillary not concealed by preor- 

 bital; gill rakers few; caudal peduncle with a single keel; spin- 

 ous dorsal low, of 14 to 18 feeble spines; soft dorsal and anal 

 short, similar, somewhat elevated and falcate, each followed by 



