234 HISTOBY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



mackerel and other fishes^ and also upon the oflfal and garbage thrown upon the bottoms 



by the fishermen. 



It is usually caught with the hook. On account of the sharpness of the teeth of this 

 specieS; an ordinary line wiH not answer, as it would be severed at once ; so that beneath 

 the lead or sinker is suspended a piece of twisted line eight or nine inches in length, to 

 which is attached, by a swivel, a firm leathern thong about twelve inches long on each 

 side, supporting at each extremity a small chain about six or eight inches in length, each 

 bearing a hook. Although it is not taken in quantities through the summer along the 

 shore, yet so late as June 27^ 184 7^, I noticed along the entire beach of Long Pomt, Prov- 

 incetown, wherever the fishermen had cleared their nets of the Whiting they had 

 caught the previous nighty that more or less of this species also had been thrown away. 



At their first appearance in May, they are quite abundant for about a fortnight at 

 Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, and the inhabitants take them in large quantities for their 

 oil. During the spring of 1846, so numerous were they about Gay Head, that in half of 

 a day, six hundred dog-fish were caught by the crew of a single boat by the hook. 

 When this species comes into Massachusetts Bay in the early part of June, it tarries but 

 for a few days ; and as the fishermen at Provincetown are engaged in taking mackerel, 

 they pay no attention to it at that time. But when they again appear in September, to 

 remain until the middle of November, the fishermen being more at leisure, fit out their 

 smacks for the sole purpose of capturing them for their livers. About one thousand liv- 

 ers famish a barrel of oil, which is worth twelve dollars. When the livers are pre- 

 served, without being tried out, they are sold for about four dollars per barrel. After 

 the fishery is over, the oil is boHed out of the livers and it is prepared for the market, 

 where it will be worth from twenty-five to thirty cents per gallon ; it is hot very salable 

 however, in cold weather, as it frequently becomes very hard when cold. The oil Jfrom 

 this species is of an inferior quality^ and is readily detected by its odor and lighter color ; 

 so that if a small quantity of dog-fish oil is mixed with shore oil it is condemned by the 

 speculators. This shore oil is used by the tanners and curriers ; it is prepared by put- 

 ting the livers in barrels or butts in the sun ; in a short time the water separates and 

 sinks, and the oil is dipped out. 



The fish itself on some parts of Cape Cod was formerly dried for fuel, and its skin 

 was considerably used for polishing, by the mechanic. 



These are some of the benefits derived from this species : but, upon the whole, those 

 fishermen who catch mackerel in nets consider them very unwelcome visitors, a^ they 

 not unfrequently swim near the surface of the water during the night and devour large 



