138 
SCAD. 
taten in July, that they have been sold at the rate of sixpence 
the hundred, (of one hundred and twenty fish.) 
Full-grown Scads are for the most part solitary, and swim 
low in the water, where they take a bait freely, but much less 
frequently when the boat is under sail. On some occasions, 
however, they gather into vast multitudes, and pursue their 
prey, especially the Launce, with such reckless impetuosity that 
considerable numbers of them are thrust upon the shore. On 
one occasion, in the Mount’s Bay in Cornwall, ten thousand 
were brought together rvithin the compass of a ground-sean; 
and on another occasion upwards of twenty thousand were 
taken, and at the same time, as evening advanced, men, women, 
and children rushed into the sea and grasped the fish with 
their hands, amidst the shouts of spectators who had assembled 
to see the sport. The prize indeed is not of great value, for 
this fish is not held in estimation for the table; but it is not 
distasteful to every palate. Lacepede speaks well of it, and in 
the west of Cornwall and Soilly Islands, as also in the north 
of Ireland, where it is called the Crake Herring, they are 
salted like other fish, and preserved dry for use in the 
winter, when rough weather may have shut up all access to 
the sea for fishing. 
The Scad grows to about a foot in length, the general form 
moderately compressed; jaws equal, with small teeth; eyes 
large. Body more slender towards the tail. Lateral line bent 
down opposite the expanded portion of the second dorsal fin, 
armed with plates through its length, which rise into a ridge 
as it approaches the tail; the middle of each plate with a 
point directed backward, their number liable to vary. The 
first dorsal fin with eight firm rays, of which the third is the 
longest; before this fin a recumbent spine, the point directed 
forward. Second dorsal close to the first: it and the anal wider 
at their origin, narrower in their course, ending near the tail, 
which is forked. Pectoral fin pointed, reaching to the curve of 
the lateral line. A small fin, with two short rays, in front of 
the anal, in a depression. Ventral fins a little behind the root 
of the pectorals. Colour of the back dusky green, with tints 
of blue, and a couple of obsolete lines of yellow; the belly 
lighter, with shades of blue, green, and red; on the borders of 
the gill-covers a dark spot. 
