COMMON MACKREt. 5/t) 



appear remarkably dim, as if covered with a kind 

 of film, which passes off as the season advances, 

 when they appear in their full perfection of colour 

 and vigor. 



The general length of the Mackrel is from twelve 

 to fifteen or sixteen inches; but in the northern 

 seas it is occasionally found of far greater size, and 

 among those which visit our own coasts instances 

 sometimes occur of specimens far exceeding the 

 general size of the rest. The colour of this fish, on 

 the upper parts, as far as the lateral line 3 is a rich, 

 deep blue, accompanied by a varying tinge of 

 green, and marked by numerous black transverse 

 streaks, which in the male are nearly strait, but in 

 the female beautifully undulated: the jaws, gill- 

 covers, and abdomen, are of a bright silver-colour, 

 with a slight varying cast of gold-green along the 

 sides, which are generally marked in the direction 

 of the lateral line by a row of long dusky spots: 

 the scales are very small, oval, and transparent : 

 the pinnules or spurious fins are small, and are five 

 in number both above and below. The shape of 

 the Mackrel is highly elegant, and it is justly con- 

 sidered as one of the most beautiful of the European 

 fishes. Its merit as an article of food is universally 

 established, and it is one of those fishes which have 

 maintained their reputation through a long suc- 

 cession of ages ; having been highly esteemed by 

 the ancients, who prepared from it the particular 

 condiment or sauce known to the Romans by the 

 title of Garum, and made by salting the fish, and 



