A GAMY AND DELICIOUS FlSH. 95 



SECTION FIFTH. 



THE KINGFISH. 



By many anglers this fish is regarded as the best water- 

 game of the estuaries. It is justly entitled to be considered 

 one of the best food and anglers' fishes of the waves which 

 wash the shores from Sandy Hook to New York City. Its 

 small and hard mouth is bordered with a gristly rim, peculi- 

 arly adapted to holding a small hook. In the waters about 

 the city this fish is not numerous, nor are the members of the 

 limited shoals of large size, running only from a half to two 

 pounds each off Communipaw, Kill Von Kull, and Newark 

 Bay ; but at the south end of Staten Island, in Amboy Bay, 

 and where it merges into the lower Bay of New York, near 

 Freeport, and in Jamaica Bay, near Barren Island, they some- 

 times run as heavy as five pounds. All along the South Bay 

 and the New Jersey shore and inlets this delectable fish is 

 taken in greater or less numbers in fykes, seines, pounds, and 

 with the hand-line, while they yield tithe to sportsmen witli 

 rod and reel. 



THE KINGFISH. Scecena Nebulosa. Mitchill. 



The meat of the kingfish laminates in flakes of very close 

 texture. It is a very heavy fish for its size. Though emi- 

 nently a breakfast fish, yet for a chowder the epicure prefers 

 it to sea bass or cod, the acknowledged chowder fishes. The 



