318 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



In 1877 four smacks were constantly running between Block Island and New York, carrying 

 each from 4,000 to 8,000 Bonitoes a week, or perhaps 20,000 pounds. The yield of Block Island 

 alone that summer was probably not less than 2,000,000 pounds. In one haul of the purse-seine 

 by the schooner "Lilian," of Noank, 1,500 were taken; and in August, 1874, 1,200 in one pound-net. 



They seem first to have attracted the attention of New England authorities about 1865. 

 Genio 0. Scott, writing in 1875, remarked : "His first arrival along our beaches and in our bays 

 was about eight years ago, and his shoals have increased remarkably fast ever since his advent. 

 As a table luxury it ranks, with epicures, below the striped bass and bluefish, but, because of its 

 comparative rarity, it commands a price rather above either. The numbers of this fish annually 

 taken about the approaches to our harbors with the troll and in nets has increased so much that 

 it bids fair to become nearly as numerous as the bluefish." 



HABITS, &c. In habits the Bonito has much in common with the blue-fish, though it is, 

 if possible, even more active and more the embodiment of perpetual and insatiable hunger. They 

 come to and go from the coast together, and are often taken together in the nets. Sometimes two 

 lines in one boat will fasten at the same time a bluefish and a Bonito. The Bonito, like the 

 bluefish, appear to be attracted to our waters by the great schools of mackerel and menhaden, upon 

 which they feed. The Bonito schools create much confusion as they pass through the water, and 

 their progress is marked by flocks of screaming gulls and terns, which follow them to prey upon the 

 remnants of their feasts. At the end of summer they disappear entirely. No very young Bonitos 

 have been found in our waters. Geuio C. Scott, however, records the capture of one in Jamaica 

 Bay in 1874, weighing less than a pound, and which he believes to have been hatched the previous 

 year. The Fish Commission also has one of the same size taken off Southern New England. 

 Charles Potter, of Norwalk, Connecticut, states that small specimens, six inches in length, were 

 from 1870 to 1874 frequently taken late in the fall in the weirs at Fisher's Island. 



SIZE. A fish weighing ten pounds measures twenty-eight to twenty-nine inches ; eight pounds, 

 twenty-seven to twenty-eight inches ; seven pounds, twenty-six to twenty-seven inches ; six pounds, 

 twenty -five to twenty-six inches; four pounds, twenty-two to twenty-three inches. There have not 

 yet been found in the adults any traces of mature spawn, though one taken off Norwalk, July 23, 

 1874, had the eggs well formed though not nearly mature. 



THE FISHERY. In 1875 the earliest Bonito was taken in the Robinson's Hole weir July 7, and 

 two more came along July 24. They were not abundant until August, when many more were taken 

 in Vineyard Sound by Oak Bluffs boats, trolling. The fishermen then believed that they were 

 gradually increasing in numbers and importance and taking the place of the squeteague which 

 were dying out. August 7 the weir at Cedar Tree Neck had taken nothing but Bonitoes, while 

 those farther west at Menemsha Bight had taken only squeteagne. 



Bonitos are caught in the vicinity of Block Island with trolling-hooks. They bite sharply, like 

 blnefish. The best bait is an ordinary bluefish hook with a petticoat of red and white flannel, 

 though the fish will also take any bluefish lure. 



On the eastern shore of Virginia Bonito are caught by harpooning, says Mr. 0. R. Moore, and 

 also with the hook. They are most numerous about the mouth of the York River. They come in 

 in June and leave in September. It is quite possible, however, that the Bonito referred to by Mr. 

 Moore is quite another fish the Cobia, Elacate atlantica. 



USES. Tested side by side with the bluefish, at the same table, the Bonito seems not much 

 inferior, though the flesh is somewhat softer and more perishable. 



The Bonito may be ranked among the many excellent food-fishes of our coast, and, in any 



