12(j FISbES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



in Baltimore, and the pompano is to the fish gourmand worth a 

 journey to the Gulf coast. 



The pompano is taken on the ocean beach of East Florida in the 

 summer months with the cast net, in size from one pound to six, 

 average, two pounds. It spawns in March, as I learn from the Flo- 

 rida fishermen. 



While fishing for sheepshead in the Halifax River in 1870, I cap- 

 tured a pompano with rod and cla^ bait. Its action on the line was 

 peculiar, and different from that of the cavalli; it ran in circles, and 

 fought vigorously for a long time, and Bartolo Facet ti, who was 

 with me, one of the oldest and most experienced fishermen on the 

 coast, said that was only the second instance he had ever known 

 of taking the pompano with the hook. My specimen weighed two- 

 and a-half pounds, and being cooked and eaten within three hours, 

 of his capture, he was all my fancy painted him. 



In Jordan and Gilbert's Synopsis, four species of Trachynotus 

 are described as occurring on our coasts, and the description of 

 the above species is as follows : 



DESCRIPTION. 



T. carolinus L. (Gill.) Common pompano. Uniform bluish above, sides sil- 

 very, golden in the adult, without bands ; fins plain silvery or dusky. Body ob- 

 long ovate, elevated, profile forming a gentle curve from the middle of the back to- 

 the snout, where it descends abruptly. Dorsal and anal falcate, their lobes 

 reaching when depressed nearly to the middle of the fin ; pectoral reaching to 

 opposite the vent. Gill rakers short, slender in the young, becoming thick in the 

 adult. Head4; depth 2 1-3. D. VI-i, 25; A. Il-i, 23, L. 18 inches. 

 West Indies, north to Cape Cod. The most valued food fish of our Southern, 

 waters. 



