296 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Captain Hurlbert caught a dozen fish off Cainden July 1, 1870, which were half spawned and 

 had spawn running out of them. 



According to Mr. Wilkins, of Two Isles, Grand Manan, the Mackerel spawn there on the 

 rocks and sand in water from one foot to ten feet or more in depth. This is in the first half of 

 June. The spawn is in bunches and does not float on the water. 



During the spawning season Mackerel are taken in seines, as they will not bite and are then 

 very poor. They come again in September and October, and are then taken with the hook. 



Mr. Hall, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, says that Mackerel spawn only once in 

 seven years in large numbers, this period representing the interval between the successive large 

 catches. The Mackerel strike in there about the 10th of June. They spawn about the 2d or 3d 

 of July on the Bradley Bank to the north of Prince Edward Island. At that time they have been 

 taken with spawn running out of them. They cease to bite for several weeks while spawning. 

 One of the principal spawning grounds on our coast appears to be on the Nantucket Shoals, where 

 for a period of three or four weeks after their first appearance the Mackerel hug the bottom and 

 rarely take the hook. At this time there is a lull in the prosecution of the mackerel fishery, 

 although before its beginning great quantities are taken in the purse-seines far south along the 

 coast. After the close of the spawning season the old fish are said to be very poor, but take the 

 hook greedily along the entire coast, as also before the beginning of the spawning season. Although 

 the fish first brought to market are sold at a high price on account of their previous scarcity, it is 

 not until after the close of the spawning season and the subsequent fattening up of the fish that 

 they attain their highest excellence as an article of food. Fall Mackerel are well understood to be 

 by far the best fish. Storer, in his "History of the Fishes of Massachusetts," remarks: "From the 

 10th of May to the 15th of June they appear at the entrance to Massachusetts Bay, having been a 

 few days previous at Nantucket and the Vineyard Sound. Nine-tenths of those first seen are 

 males, and they are all large but poor, weighing from one pound to one pound and a half. At 

 their first appearance they will not take the hook, and are therefore captured in seines." 



The contrast between the statements of Storer and Captain Webb should be carefully noted. 

 The former states that the early fish taken near the end of Cape Cod are mostly males. This 

 would naturally be the case, as the females at this time are either engaged in spawning or are 

 perhaps so weak that they would not be likely to come to the surface. At Milk Island, however, 

 which seems to be in the middle of the spawning region, the majority of the fish are females. 



We are indebted to Capt. N. E. Atwood for the most complete series of observations upon the 

 spawning of the Mackerel which has ever been made, and what he has seen he shall be allowed to 

 tell in his own words : 



"I have many seasons been engaged in fishing for Mackerel in our bay with gill-nets. I 

 watched the Mackerel more particularly in regard to their time for spawning. In 1856, owing to 

 the fact that a measure had passed the Massachusetts legislature authorizing the appointment of 

 three commissioners to make investigations with regard to the artificial propagation of the fish, 

 and that I expected to be named one of the commissioners, I went to the upper part of Massachu- 

 setts Bay, where it is about twenty miles broad, and I found these spawning Mackerel there near 

 the bottom. This year the Mackerel came in about the middle of May; few at first. On the 20th 

 I went out for the first time with my drifting-nets all night in the bay; I caught 2,250 Mackerel; 

 on the following night I caught 3,520. When I first began to catch them I observed that the spawn 

 had come to its full size, though it was not free to run from them, not being yet fully matured. 

 On or about the 1st of June we found that some of them were depositing spawn, and as I took them 

 from the nets the spawn ran freely. On the 5th of June I took the mature eggs as they came from 



