296 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



10. The Coryph&na or Razor-fish. The 

 body wedge-like ; the head very bevel ; the fin 

 covering the gills with five spines. 



11. The Skomber or Mackerel. The body 

 oblong ; the line running down the side zig- 

 zagged towards the tail ; the head sharp and 

 small ; the fins covering the gills with seven 

 spines ; several false fins towards the tail. 1 



The Mackerel, (Scomber scombrus.) The mackerel, 



though of the same order as the herring, pilchard, and 

 sprat, belongs to a distinct family, to which also belong 

 the tunny, the bonito, the sword-fish, the dory, or doree, 

 and several other kinds. The mackerel, which is placed 

 at the head of this division of acanthopterygii, was 

 known to the Greeks by the name of vxopfyii (scombros^; 

 and the generic term for all fish comprised in this class 

 is Scomberidee. The name given to the mackerel by the 

 French, German, and Dutch, as well as by the British, 

 is derived from the Latin word macula, a spot; that is, 

 the spotted or streaked fish. Elence the term " mack- 

 erel-sky" is also applied to a well-known formation of 

 the clouds. The mackerel is perhaps the most beautiful 

 of our British fishes, being elegant in its form as well 

 as brilliant in colour. 



For the following account of the habits and mode of 

 taking this useful fish, we are indebted to the elegant 

 and valuable History of British Fishes, by Mr Yarrell. 

 On the coast of Ireland, the mackerel is taken from 

 the county of Kerry in the west, along the southern 

 shore, eastward to Cork and Waterford; from thence 

 northward to Antrim, and north-west to Londonderry 

 and Donegal. Dr Macculloch says it visits some of 

 the lochs of the western islands, but is not considered 

 very abundant. On the Cornish coast, this fish occurs 

 sometimes as early as March, and appears to be pursuing 

 a course from west to east. They are plentiful on the 

 Devonshire coast, and swarm in West bay about June. 

 On the Hampshire and Sussex coast, particularly the lat- 

 ter, they arrive as early as March, and sometimes, as will 

 be shown, even in Feburary ; and the earlier in the year 

 the fishermen go to look for them, the further from the 

 shore do they seek for them and find them. Duhamel say: 

 the mackerel are caught earlier at Dunkirk than at Dieppe 

 or Havre: up our eastern coast, however, the fishing i< 

 later. The fishermen of Lowestofie and Yarmouth, gaii 

 their great harvest from the mackerel in May and June 

 The mackerel spawns in June, and according to Bloch 

 five hundred and forty thousand eggs have been countec 

 in one fish. The young mackerel, which are callec 

 shiners, are from four to six inches long, by the end o 

 August. They are half grown, says Mr Couch, b' 

 November, wheii they retire to deep water, and are seen 

 no more that winter; but the adult fishes never wholl; 

 quit the Cornish coast, and it is common to see som 

 taken with lines in every month of the year. Th 

 mackerel as feeders are voracious, and their growth i 

 rapid. The ordinary length varies from fourteen to six 

 teen inches, and their weight is about two pounds each 

 but they are said to attain the length of twenty inches 

 The largest fish are not, however, considered the bes 

 for the table. 



As an article of food they are in great request, an 

 those taken in the months of May and June are gener 

 ally considered superior in flavour to those taken eilh 



12. The aZ>rws.Pl.XXI.fig.23. The body 

 oval; the head middling; the lips doubled 

 inward ; both cutting and grinding teeth ; the 

 covers of the gills scaly; the fin covering 



arlier in the spring, or in autumn. To be eaten in 

 erfection. this fish should be very fresh, as it soon 

 ecomes unfit for food. Mackerel were first allowed to 

 e cried through the streets of London on a Sunday, in 

 698, and the practice prevails to the present time. 



At our various fishing-towns on the coast, the mack- 

 rel season is one of great bustle and activity ; the high 

 rice obtained by early cargoes being the inducement to 

 reat exertions. 



In May, 1807, the first Brighton boat-load of mackerel 

 old at Billingsgate for forty guineas per hundred, 

 even shillings each, reckoning six score to the hundred, 

 the highest price ever known at that market. The 

 ext boat-load produced but thirteen guineas the hnn- 

 red. Mackerel were so plentiful at Dover in Ib08, 

 hat they were sold sixty for a shilling. At Brighton, 

 n June of the same year, the shoal of mackerel was so 

 reat, that one of the boats had the meshes of her nets 

 o completely occupied by them, that it was impossible 

 o drag them in. The fish and nets, therefore, at length 

 unk together. The boats engaged in fishing, are 

 sually attended by other fast-sailing vessels, which are 

 ent away with the fish taken. From Hastings, and other 

 ishing-towns on the Sussex coast, the fish are brought 

 o London by vans, which travel up during the night. 



The most common made of fishing for mackerel, and 

 n which the greatest numbers are taken, is by drift- 

 icts. The drift-net is twenty feet deep, by one hun- 

 dred and twenty feet long, well corked at the top, but 

 without lead at the bottom. They are made of small 

 fine twine, which is tanned of a reddish-brown colour, 

 to preserve it from the action of the sea water. Th* 

 size of the mesh is about two and a half inches, or rather 

 arger. Twelve, fifteen, and sometimes eighteen of 

 these nets are attached lengthways, by tying along a 

 thick rope called the drift-rope, and at the end of each 

 net to each other. When arranged for depositing in the 

 sea, a large buoy attached to the end of the drift-rope, is 

 thrown overboard; the vessel is put before the wind, 

 and as she sails along, the rope with the nets thus 

 attached, is passed over the stem into the water, till the 

 whole of the nets are run out. The net thus deposited, 

 hangs suspended in the water perpendicularly, twenty 

 feet deep from the drift-rope, and extending from three 

 quarters of a mile to a mile, or even a mile and a half, 

 depending on the number of nets belonging to the party 

 or company engaged in fishing together. When the 

 whole of the nets are thus handed out, the drift-rope is 

 shifted from the stern to the prow of the vessel, and she 

 rides by it as if at anchor. The benefit gained by the 

 boat's hanging at the end of the drift-rope is, that the 

 net is kept strained in a straight line, which, without 

 this pull upon it, would not be the case. 



The nets are shot in the evening, and sometimes 

 hauled once during the night, at others allowed to re- 

 main in the water all night. The fish roving in the 

 dark through the water, hang in the meshes of the net, 

 which are large enough to admit them beyond the gill- 

 covers arid pectoral fins, but not large enough to allow 

 the thickest part of the body to pass through. In the 

 morning early, preparations are made for hauling the 

 nets. A capstan upon the deck is manned, about which 

 two turns of the drift-rope are taken. One man stands 

 forward to untie the upper edge of each net from the 

 drift-rope, which is called casting off' the lashings : others 

 hand in the net with the fish caught, to which one side 

 of the vessel is devoted ; the other side is occupied by 



the drift-rope, which is wound in by the men at the 

 capstan. The whole of the net in, and the fish secured, 



