MACKEREL. 



121 



ACANTHOPTER YGII. 



SCOMBERID/E* 



THE MACKEREL. 



Scomber scomber, LiNNa;us. Bloch, pt. ii. pi. 54. 



,, scombrus, Cuv. et Valenc. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. viii. p. 6. 



,, ,, Common Mackrel, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 357, pi. 62. 



„ „ Mackarel, Don. Brit Fish. pi. 122. 



,, vulgaris, Mackerel, Flem. Brit. An. p. 217, sp. 161. 



Generic Characters. — Scales on the body small and smooth ; vertical fins not 

 bearing scales ; two dorsal fins widely separated ; some of the posterior rays of 

 the second dorsal and the anal fin free, forming finlets ; sides of the tail slightly 

 carinated ; one row of small conical teeth in each jaw ; the parts of the gill- 

 cover without denticulations or spines ; branchiostegous rays 7. 



The Macjcerel is so well known for the beauty and 

 brilliancy of its colours, the elegance of its form, its intrin- 

 sic value to man as an article of food, both in 'reference to 

 quantity as well as quality, that farther observation on these 

 points will be considered unnecessary. 



The Mackerel was supposed by Anderson, Duhamel, and 



others, to be a fish of passage ; performing, like some birds, 



certain periodical migrations, and making long voyages from 



north to south at one season of the year, and the reverse 



* The family of the Mackerel. 



