SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 189 



From the account of this fish at Beaufort as given by Yarrow, it is evident 

 that he had some other species in mind. Jordan & Gilbert frequently heard of 

 the tunny, but did not see it; Jenkins, however, saw two specimens there in 1885. 



Genus SARDA Cuvier. Bonitoes. 

 Moderate-sized, very active, pelagic fishes, swimming in large schools and 

 often coming inshore in pursuit of food. The elongate body is covered with 

 scales, which in the pectoral region are modified and form a corselet; the caudal 

 peduncle is very slender and strongly keeled; the jaws contain strong, conical 

 teeth, and the palate bones have similar teeth; the gill-rakers are long and stout; 

 the dorsal fins are separated only by a short notch; the anterior dorsal has 18 to 

 22 spines; the dorsal finlets number 8 or 9 and the anal usually less. Two 

 American species, one on each coast. (Sarda, the ancient Greek and Latin name 

 for the fish, from the island of Sardinia.) 



162. SARDA SARDA (Bloch). 



"Bonito" 



Scomber aarda Bloch, Ichthyologie, x, 35, pi. 334, 1797; Europe. 

 Sarda pelamys, Yarrow, 1877, 207; Shackleford Banks. 

 Sarda sarda, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 872. 



Diagnosis. — ^Body slightly compressed, depth .25 length; head contained 3.75 times in 

 length; mouth large, maxillary extending beyond eye and not concealed by preorbital; about 

 30 teeth in each jaw; corselet small, not extending beyond pectorals; lateral Une wavy; gill- 

 rakers 11 or 12 on lower arm of first arch; dorsal rays xxi or xxiH-13, with 8 finlets, the 

 spines becoming gradually shorter from front to back; anal rays 14, with 7 finlets. Color: 

 steel blue above, with numerous parallel, oblique black stripes which form v's on back; sides 

 and below silvery white, (sarda, an ancient name for the bonito, from the island of Sardinia.) 



The bonito is one of the best known species of the mackerel family in our 

 waters, being abundant in summer on the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts 

 southward. It is taken in large numbers in pound nets and other nets, and may 

 also be caught by trolling with blue-fish tackle. A weight of 12 pounds is 

 attained, but the average does not exceed 4 or 5. When seen in the water the 

 bonito may be readily recognized by its back being strikingly marked by a series 

 of black v's pointed forward. 



At Beaufort this fish is known to most of the fishermen as "bonito", but it 

 is not caught in noteworthy numbers. Yarrow noted that it was "tolerably 

 abundant near Shackleford banks". Goode (1884) notes that the fish is occa- 

 sionally observed off Cape Hatteras. 



Although the bonito does not rank high as a food fish in our markets, it is 

 really an excellent fish when eaten soon after capture. From abundant personal 

 experience, the present writer endorses the following opinion of Professor Goode: 



Tested side by side with the blue-fish, 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 other country not so abundantly 

 supplied with finely-flavored fishes, it would be considered of the highest value. Its vitality 



