Ferocity of Mackerel 259 



blue on the Mackerel's back blend so admirably with 

 either green or blue sea that they render him dmost 

 invisible from above, while the iridescent sheen on 

 the silvery underside of the fish makes an even more 

 perfect combination with the glittering sea, as looked 

 through from below. Consequently he plays a terribly 

 destructive part among the smaller fish, such as the 

 young of herrings, pilchards, etc. 



Fortunately he does not attack in schools ; if he 

 did, a school of Mackerel would probably ' absorb ' 

 a school of herring, leaving not a • wrack behind.' 

 No, when in the amazing hosts of the school, although 

 ferociously carnivorous as ever, the Mackerel seems 

 to keep his predatory instincts in abeyance for the 

 time, as if under strict discipline. Even then I 

 imagine it would fare hardly with any straggling 

 creature, helpless and edible, that fell in the way of 

 that multitudinous march. Do I not remember 

 vividly a story I was told as a child, of a man who, 

 swimming out from Brighton, became surrounded by 

 a school of mackerel, and was seen holding up his arms 

 for succour, with scores of the ravenous creatures 

 clinging to his flesh. The story went on to its gruesome 

 climax of the recovery of the skeleton almost stripped 

 clean, an hour after the man's motions for help were 

 first seen. I cannot say that I place implicit rehance 

 upon the story, but I have seen a school of Mackerel 

 round the carcase of a dead bullock, and bear witness 

 to the savage energy with which the fish in their 

 thousands tore at the fetid mass of flesh. And so 

 I would rather not go swimming in the midst of a 

 school of Mackerel. 



In common with his larger congeners, the Mackerel 

 is strictly pelagic — he has no use for the bottom at all. 

 It is even said by naturalists that the Mackerel spawns 



