74 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



in a single day. When taken out of the 

 water, the mackerel dies almost instantly. Few 

 of these fishes are salted in England, but 

 in France great numbers thus prepared are 

 made use of. The spring fishing-boats carry 

 out salt with them for this purpose, and cure 

 the fish on board. Young mackerel of the 

 year are called shiners ; excluded from the egg 

 in May or June, they increase rapidly in size, 

 and by the middle of autumn measiu-e from 

 four to six inches long ; on the approach of 

 winter they retire to the deep water. 



There is a larger species, termed the Spanish 

 mackerel, (^Scomber colicis,) which occasionally 

 visits various portions of our coast, especially 

 that of Cornwall, but the fishermen take no 

 notice of it, as it is in no estimation. 



A large species of the mackerel family, 

 namely, the far famed tunny, {Thynnus vulga- 

 ris,) common in the Mediterranean, occasionally 

 visits our coast, and a few from time to time are 

 captured, and sent into the mai'ket for sale. 



The tunny attains to a considerable size, and 

 though small specimens, of three or four feet in 

 length only, are most usually taken in our seas, 

 yet specimens of ten, fifteen, and eighteen feet 

 in length are not uncommon in the Mediterra- 

 nean. " This fish," says Cuvier, ** may be re- 



