130 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



SCOMBER DEKAYI, Storer. 



The Spanish Mackerel. 



(PLATE XI. FIG. 1.) 



Scomber colias, The Spanish Mackerel, STOKER, Report, p. 45. 



" " " DEKAY, Report, p. 104, pi. 11, fig. 23. 



" " " STOKER, Mera. Amer. Acad., New Series, it. p. 341. 



STOKER, Synopsis, p. 89. 



Color. The upper part of the body is of a light-green color, with numerous contigu- 

 ous beautifully undulating lines of a darker green passing down the sides and just cross- 

 ing the lateral line. Beneath the lateral line is an interrupted dull-brown band, arising 

 beneath the pectorals and continued in a straight course to the tail ; below this band the 

 sides are silvery, with numerous irregularly marked blotches, circular, oval, and oblong. 

 The abdominal ridge is immaculate ; the entire sides exhibit cupreous reflections. The 

 upper portion of the operculum is greenish, with cupreous reflections ; the inferior portion, 

 as well as the preoperculum and jaws, is silvery. The first dorsal fin is transparent, 

 slightly dusky ; the pectorals have a small black blotch at their base, within, which is 

 scarcely perceptible unless the fins are raised ; their outer base is silvery. The ven- 

 trals are of a reddish white. The caudal fin is of a yellowish green. The pupils are 

 black ; the irides silvery. The mouth is fuliginous ; the tongue is greenish, with a me- 

 tallic tint. 



Description. The body is cylindrical, very plump, tapering towards the tail, at the 

 origin of which it is very small. The greatest depth of the body is equal to rather more 

 than one sixth its length. The length of the head is less than one fourth the length of 

 the body ; it is flattened upon its top, compressed upon its sides ; the snout is rather 

 pointed. The eyes are large and circular ; the diameter of the eyes is less than the dis- 

 tance between them. The nostrils are double ; the anterior is circular, in front of pos- 

 terior a distance equal to that between the posterior and the eye ; the posterior is vertical, 

 just in front of the eyes. The jaws are equal, crowded by a single row of very minute 

 teeth. 



The first dorsal fin arises opposite the middle of the pectoral fins ; its first ray upon 

 its outer edge is margined, as well as the spaces between the tips of the rays, with black ; 

 the second ray is the longest ; the most posterior ray is exceedingly minute. The tips of 

 all the rays project slightly beyond the membrane. 



The second dorsal fin commences back of the first, at a greater distance than the 

 length of the first dorsal. This fin is shorter than the preceding ; its rays are short, and 

 enveloped in a thick membrane emarginated above ; the extremities of the rays project 



