SCOMBRID^. 83 



Family, IX— SCOMBRIDiE, Ciivier. 



Branchiostegals seven or eight: pseudobranchise present. Body oblong or 

 slightly elongated and rather compressed. Gill-openings wide: eyes lateral. 

 The infraorbital bones do not articulate with the preopercle. Teeth preseat in 

 the jaws, but may be absent from the palate. Two dorsal fins, the first being 

 distinct from the soft, which has more rays than the first has spines : finlets 

 present or absent : ventrals thoracic. Sides of the tail sometimes keeled. Scales, 

 when present, small. Air-bladder present or absent. Pyloric appendages 

 numerous, in moderate numbers, or dendritical. 



Fishes of the Mackerel family are pelagic forms, readily distinguishable by 

 their elegant shapes and brilliant colours, while they are mostly highly prized for 

 the table. Carnivorous and exceedingly active, their shapes are well adapted to 

 enable them to glide rapidly through the water: while to obviate the least 

 impediment, we even find in some depressions for the reception of the pectoral 

 fins. 



Genus I. — ScOMBEB, Artedi. 



Cordylus, Gray. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchice present. Body rather elongated and 

 compressed. JEyes with adipose lids. Cleft of mouth deep. Small and deciduous 

 teeth in the jaws : siinilar ones present or absent on the vomer and palatine hones. 

 Two dorsal fins, the first spinous and separated hy an interspace from the second, 

 behind which latter and also posterior to the anal fin are five or six finlets : fewer 

 spines in the first dorsal fin than there are rays in the second dorsal or in the anal : 

 ventrals thoracic. A slight keel along either side of the root of each lobe of the 

 caudal fin. Scales small. Air-bladder, when present, simple. Pyloric appendages 

 numerous. 



Geographical distribution. — These fishes have a very extensive range, being 

 found in most temperate and tropical seas of both Hemispheres, but do not 

 appear to have been received from the American shores of the South Atlantic 

 Ocean. Only two distinct species have as yet been recorded from the British 

 Isles. 



1. Scomber scomber, Plate XXXII and XXXIII. 



XKOfiPpoQ, Arist. vi, c. 17, viii, c. 12 and 13, is, c. 2 ; ^lian, xiv, c. 1 ; Athen. 

 iii, 112, vii, 321 ; Oppian, Halieut. i, fol. 108, 109. 



Scomber, Ovid, Halieut. v, 94 ; Pliny, ix, c. 15, xxxi, c. 8, xxxii, c. 11 ; 

 Martial, iii, Ep. 2, iv, Ep. 86, xiii, Ep. 1 ; Rondel, viii, c. 7, p. 234, c. fig. ; Salvian. 

 p. 241, f . 239 b. 241, 242 ; Gesner, fol. 57 ; Sohonev. p. 66 ; Aldrov. ii, c. 53, p. 

 270; Jonston, De Pise. lib. i, tit. iii, c. 3, punct. 6, p. 95, t. xxi, fig. 10; 

 Willughby, p. 181, t. M. 3 ; Ray, p. 68 ; Rutty, p. 356 ; Strom, Sond, ii, p. 296. 

 Scomber, No. 1, Artedi, Genera, p. 30, Synon. 48, Species, p. 68. Scomber, sp. 

 Gronov. Zooph. p. 93, No. 304. Pelamys, sp. Klein, MSS. v, p. 12, No. v, t. iv, 

 f. 1 ; Duhamel, Peches, sect, vii, pi. 1, f. 1 ; Cetti, Hist. Nat. Sard, iii, p. 190. 

 Machrel, Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1) iii, p. 264, pi. Ii (Ed. 2) iii, p. 357, pi. Ixii. 

 The mackerel. Low, Fauna Oread, p. 218. 



Scomber scomber (or scombrus) Linn. Sys. i, p. 492 ; Briinn. p. 68 ; Bloch, t. 

 liv ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1328 : Bl. Schn. p. 24 ; Lacep. iii, p. 24 ; Shaw, Zool. iv, p. 

 577, pi. Ixxxiv ; Donovan, Brit. Fish, v, pi. cxx ; Turton, p. 100 ; Pallas, Zoogr. 

 Russ. Asiat. iii, p. 216 ; Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 170 and Europ. Merid. iii, p. 412; 

 Martens, Reise nach Venedig. ii, p. 432 ; Cuv. and Val. viii, p. 6 ; Frie.s och Ekst. 



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