CHAPTER VI. 



THE BONITO. barda e/aw >. Gill. 



The bonito, or skip-jack as the fishermen call it, is a wanderer in 

 all the warmer waters of the world. It is a species of tunny, sup- 

 posed to have been first seen at the Island of Sardinia. It is plentiful 

 in the Mediterranean Sea to this day ; is found off the east coast of 

 Africa, in the waters of South America and all along our eastern 

 coast. In appearance the bonito resembles the members of the 

 mackerel tribe, but on a second inspection is found to be vastly 

 stouter and heavier in proportion to its size. 



Its symmetrical form and sharply cut fins give it an appearance of 

 great speed, and its sharp teeth a rather vicious look. It is nearly 

 one-quarter as broad as it is long. The scales on the bonito are so 

 fine that they are scarcely visible to the eye. The mouth is well 

 supplied with teeth, each jaw has about twenty fine acute teeth, 

 slightly inclined inward, and at the base of the tongue there are 

 two patches of small teeth. The eye is large and prominent. The 

 first dorsal is long and consists of twenty-one weak spines ; the sec- 

 cond dorsal is rather small and has two spines and a number of rays; 

 behind this fin are nine finlets. The pectoral fins are long, triangu- 

 lar and lodged in a cavity fitting their shape. The ventrals also 

 have such a hollow into which they fit. Between the anal and the 

 caudal fin there are six or seven finlets. The caudal is curiously 

 curved inwards, about the shape of a crescent. 



The top of the head and sides are dark lead color. The belly is 

 an ashen grey, almost blue in some places. The ventral fins are 



