274 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



each other, are similar in outline, and are each 

 followed by nine detached finlets ; the caudal fin 

 is widely forked, the lobes being long and pointed 

 or crescent-shaped. Its color is silvery, bluish or 

 greenish above, paling to white on the belly, with 

 iridescent reflections; the sides are dotted with 

 some thirty bronze or golden spots, a fourth of an 

 inch or more in diameter ; the first dorsal fin is 

 dark in front, whitish behind ; the second dorsal 

 is yellowish ; the anal fin is pale ; the pectoral 

 fin is yellow, bordered with black ; the caudal fin 

 is dusky. 



The Spanish mackerel is gregarious and migra- 

 tory, swimming in large schools, and feeding at 

 the surface on pilchards, anchovies, and sardines 

 in Florida, and on silversides and menhaden in 

 northern waters. When feeding, the schools are 

 constantly leaping above the surface, and the 

 flashing of their silvery forms in the bright sun- 

 light is a beautiful and inspiriting sight, enhanced 

 by the flocks of gulls and terns whirling and dart- 

 ing above the schools, eager for such stray mor- 

 sels and fragments as they are able to seize. In 

 the Gulf of Mexico it often feeds in company 

 with the salt-water trout, and in northern waters 

 with the bluefish and weakfish. 



