MARINE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 519 
solidissima) are more generally used, as only this bait can 
be obtained at all seasons of the year; clams are also found 
to remain longer on the hooks. 
Nearly all the codfish obtained on our coast are brought 
to market in an unsalted condition, but they form only a 
small portion of the number sold.in Massachusetts. The 
majority of the codfish sold here are brought from. the 
Banks of Newfoundland and other great banks, and are 
always brought in a salted state. 
We have already stated that although many hundred 
thousands of mackerel and codfish are captured through the 
agency of man, and many more are destroyed by other influ- 
ences, there has been, notwithstanding, no noticeable change 
Fig. 112. 
"The Herring, Clupea elongata. 
in their numbers. But there are some species of fish which 
Visit our coast that are constantly diminishing in numbers, 
and our shores were formerly frequented by some fishes in 
great quantities, which have now nearly, if not quite, dis- 
appeared. 
The Bluefish ( Temnodon saltator), Fig. 111, which inhabits 
our waters from the last of June till September, has had very 
marked periodic variations in numbers. This fish, as his- 
tory informs us, was captured and esteemed as an article of 
food by the earlier settlers of this state. Previous to the 
year 1763 bluefish were very plenty on the southern coast 
of Cape Cod, but about this year they all disappeared, and 
none were taken till sixty or seventy years after. For the 
