MOVEMENTS OF THE FEIGATB MACKEEEL, 307 



fifteen miles off Block Island. The captain and several of the crew of the 'Ella M. Johnson,' of 

 Fewburyport, just arrived from Block Island, state they saw abundance of the Auxis, but did not 

 know what it was until the reports came from you at IsTewport. They opened one and found in its 

 stomach the ordinary red mackerel food. This crew differ with the crew of the schooner ' Pitz J. 

 Babson' with regard to the ease of capturing them; think them rather difBicult to take; say thej' 

 flip like pogies, and do not rush like Mackerel. They saw ten large schools of them on Saturday 

 last, when some fifteen miles south of Block Island." 



It is very itnportant that any observations made upon this species in years to come should be 

 reported to the United States Fish Commission. The length of those I have seen ranges from 

 twelve to sixteen inches, and their weight from three-quarters of a pound to a pound and a half or 

 more. Those sent to New York market were part of the lot taken by the schooner "American 

 Eagle " and brought into Newport, whence they were shipped by Mr. Thompson, a fish-dealer of 

 that place. It would require from eighty to one hundred of them to fill a barrel; so the estimate 

 of Captain Eiggs, that there are a thousand barrels in one of the schools, shows how exceedingly 

 abundant they must be. The name "Frigate Mackerel," used in Bermuda, would seem to be the 

 best name for use in this country, since the fish resemble the Mackerel more than they do the 

 bonito or tunny. 



Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, Massachusetts, the veteran fisherman-ichthyologist, has 

 examined the specimens, and is satisfied that they belong to the same species with a fish which he 

 found abundant in the Azores in 1840, when, led by the reports of Cape Cod whalers, he went to 

 these islands in search of the Mackerel, the mackerel fishing being poor at home. No Mackerel 

 were foimd except the Frigate Mackerel. 



98. THE SPANISH MACKEREL AND ITS ALLIES. 



The genus Soomberomorus, until recently known to naturalists under the name Cyhium, is repre- 

 sented upon our Atlantic coast by three species, and on the coast of California by one. Of the 

 three eastern species the Spanish Mackerel, 8. maculatus, is the most important, although the 

 others grow to a larger size. The three species may be distinguished by the following characters : 



The Spanish Mackerel, Soomberomorus maculatus, has the teeth somewhat conical and very 

 pointed. It has seventeen dorsal spines and a black spot upon the first dorsal. 



The Cero, Scomberomorus oaballa, has fourteen dorsal spines and the first dorsal fin immaculate. 

 The young fish have the sides of the body marked with roundish yellow spots, which disappear 

 with age, and the lateral line is very sinuous upon the posterior portion of the body. 



The Spotted Cero, or King Cero, Soomberomorus regalis, has seventeen 'dorsal spines, and upon 

 the front of the first dorsal, which is white, is a spot of deep blue, which is prolonged far back upon 

 the upper edge of the fin. The sides are marked with broken longitudinal bands with brown spots. 



The Spanish Maokeebl — Scombekomorus maculatus. 



The Spanish Mackerel is found along our coast from Cape Cod to the eastern part of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, and has also been observed about Cuba and on the coast of Brazil. A few individuals 

 have been seen north of Cape Cod. Storer records the capture of one at Lynn, July 24, 1841, and 

 states that specimens were obtained at Provincetown in August, 1847, and by Captain Atwood, at 

 Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine. Although abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, the species 

 is rarely seen on the coast of Eastern Florida. 



The history of this species, like that of several others of the Mackerel tribe, is very interest- 

 ing, since it shows that its abundance upon the coast has varied much during the past two cen- 



