44G NEW YORK STATE) MUSEUM . 



PomatomHS saltatrix Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 20, 1879; Jordan 

 & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 914, 1883; Bean, Bull. U. S. F. C. 

 YII 145, 1888; 19th Rop. Comm. Fish. N. Y. 269, pi. XX, fig. 24, 

 1890- Bull. Am Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 363, 1897; 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. 

 State Mus. 104, 1900; Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 98. 1898; Mearns, 

 Bull Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. X, 319, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 

 47 U. S. Nat. Mus. 946, 1896, pi. CXLVIII, fig. 400, 1900; Eugene 

 Smith. Proc. Linn. See. N. Y. 1897, 32, 1898. 



Body robust, moderately compressed; belly compressed to a 

 bluntish edge. The depth is contained four times in the length 

 of the body. Head deep; top of head and a ridge on each side 

 above the cheeks naked; cheeks much longer than opercles. 

 The length of the head is contained three and one third times 

 in the length of the body. Pectorals placed rather low, their 

 length a little more than half that of the head. J). VIII-1, 2.5; 

 A. II-I. 2(3; Lat. 1. 05. Bluish or greenish, silvery below, a 

 black blotch at the base of the pectoral. 



Some of the many names applied to this widely distributed 

 lish are the following: mackerel (New Jersey), horse mackerel 

 (New York and Khode Island), snapping mackerel (New Eng- 

 land and Nov,- Jersey), skip mackerel (New York), snapper and 

 blue snapper (New England), greenfish (Maryland, Virginia and 

 North Carolina), salt-water jack (southern states), tailor (Chesa- 

 peake bay), v/hitefish (Hudson river). Bluefish is the name most 

 extensively used on the coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. 



The bluefish ranges on our coast from Maine to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and is believed to frequent warm seas of both conti- 

 nents. 1 1 has ranged farther to the northward this year than 

 \'nv many years before. We have heard of its capture in the 

 vicinity nf Mount Desert Me. On our coast and elsewhere its 

 movements ai-e erratic, and its abundance fluctuates greatly 

 uiiliin II riain jx-riods; it disappears sometimes altogether for 

 a I'liii iif yiai's. Tin- young, under about 1 inch in length, 

 soeni to !.! nnkiinwii. The spawning habits and localities have 

 iKti Immii ifionlril. 'i'he smallest known examples were ob- 

 'ainiil at lin' siiilare olVshore by llie V. S. Fish Commission. 

 The Willi r lias siimd individuals a little more than an inch 

 long ai Orran ('iiy N. .1. the last ol' August. The young ascend 

 riv<'rs into I'lisli w a tii\ 



