HABITS OP THE CAROLINA POMPANO. 329 



"The schools of fry go to sea in August and September. The older or. adult fish leave the 

 coast in September and October in small schools, that are only seen and caught at the inlets where 

 they happen to cross shoals or follow the beach. These Pompano of the fall are very fat and in 

 every way superior to those caught in the spring. As before mentioned, the Pompano is found on 

 the South Florida coast all the year. The sea-beach from Tampa Bay to Charlotte's Harbor seems 

 to be its favorite feeding-ground owing to the quantity of shell-fish that occur there. It does not 

 form in large schools as in the Pensacola region, and therefore is not taken in such large quantities 

 by seine fishermen. 



"Smacks from Mobile and Pensacola sometimes go to Tampa Bay for them. I have been told 

 that Pompano are caught at Key West in considerable quantities by hook and line, and I have 

 known of a few being taken in that manner at Pensacola. It feeds entirely upon small shellfish, 

 which are crushed between the bones of its pharyngeal arch." 



The Uotjnd Pompano — Teachynotus ovatus. 



The Eound Pompano, in the South sometimes called the "Shore Pompano," is known in the 

 Bermudas by the name "Alewife." This fish is very often confused by market-men with the Caro- 

 lina Pompano, and I have seen them sold together in the Charleston market under the same name, 

 just as I have seen the young of four species of the herring family sold indiscrimiuately in Xew 

 York. 



The Eound Pompano is cosmopolitan in its distribution, occurring in the North and South 

 Atlantic, and in various parts of the Indian Ocean. The young have been obtained in the harbor 

 of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, and at Beaufort, South Carolina. It is probable that the 

 species is far more abundant in our waters than we now suppose it to be. About the Bermudas 

 they are sometimes very abundant, and in 1875 a school of them, numbering six or seven hundred, 

 was seined on the south shore of the islands. They are there highly esteemed for table use. 



The AFRICAN Pompano — Tbachynotus goeeensis. 



This species, originally described Irom the Island of Goiea, on the west coast of Africa, 

 was observed by the writer at the Bermudas in 1876, and in 1877 was discovered in Florida. It 

 is the largest of the Pompanos. Two or three specimens, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds 

 each, have been sent from Florida to the New York market. One of these, taken at Jupiter Inlet, 

 was sent by Mr, Blackford to the National Museum. In the Gulf of Mexico it is not unusual, 

 being known at Key West as the "Permit." 



Stearns remarks: "This fish is rather common along the lower end of the Florida Peninsula, 

 specimens being caught quite often in seines at Cedar Keys, and at the mullet fisheries of Sarasota 

 and Charlotte's Harbor, and also Key West. It is said to attain a considerable size — fifteen or 

 twenty pound specimens being common. It is not a choice food-fish when so large, and evcu 

 smaller ones are comparatively dry and tasteless. I have not found it north or west of Cedar Keys." 



The Bannee Pompano — Teachynotus g-lauous. 



This species is a member of the West Indian fauna, and occasionally occurs at the Bermudas. 

 Stearns remarks that it is obtained frequently at Pensacola with the other species, but is never 

 very common, is seen only in the spring, and is not valued as a food-fish. Pi'ofessor Jordan 

 writes: "Along the Carolina and Gulf coasts it is not rare. At Pensacola it is known a,s the 

 ' Gaff- topsail Pompano,' and is held in low esteem." An allied species, Trachynotus fasciatus, has 

 lately been noticed by Jordan and Gilbert on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama. 



