THE LIVING WORLD. 
97 
tiful in the Baltic, North Sea, German Ocean, and all along the Scandinavian 
coasts, though its appearance is always erratic, since it is migratory in 
its habits. Their movement generally begins early in the spring, when the 
water temperature about harbors rises to 45 degrees. They feed on small 
Crustacea and calamars, nor do they reject the spawn and young of other fishes, 
and occasionally they devour their own. When their movement begins they 
appear and disappear as their prey sinks or rises, the weather having no little 
influence on their actions. 
The spawning season is in May and June, at which time they retire to 
rather deep water, and there deposit their eggs, which, upon fecundation, rise 
to the surface and are hatched 
by the sun. The young de¬ 
velop so rapidly that in two or 
three months their length is 
nearly eight inches, or within 
about four inches of the adult 
size. Though the growth is 
thus wonderfully rapid during 
the first months, it is a singular golden mackerel , or coryphene. ( Coryphana hippurus.) 
fact that thereafter the increase 
in size seems to be arrested, so that it requires nearly four years to attain the 
full size, which is from fourteen to eighteen inches. 
Mackerel are generally taken by means of seines, which are spread in the 
spring over the American fishing grounds, extending from Cape Hatteras to 
Labrador. The range is at first about fifty miles off shore, but the fish move 
shoreward, until the best fishing 
grounds are from three to ten miles 
seaward. The extensive character 
of this industry may be understood 
when it is known that a capital of 
more than $2,500,000 is invested in 
the fishery, in which more than 5000 
men are engaged. The value of 
the annual catch is estimated at 
$2,500,000, representing 111,399,855 
pounds of fish taken, o'f which 
103,142,400 pounds are pickled, 
4,957,455 pounds are canned, 1,100,- 
000 pounds used fresh, 1,100,000 
pounds used for bait, and 500,000 pounds for fertilizing purposes. 
The seines used in mackerel fishing are about 1200 feet long by 150 feet 
deep, the bottom being loaded with lead and the top buoyed with corks, which 
vary 5 in size, the largest always being at the centre. When the fishing is in 
shallower water a smaller seine is used, some 1000 feet long and 7° f ee t deep, 
but all boats now carry both sizes for obvious reasons. Though a much 
greater proportion of mackerel are taken by means of seines, hand-fishing, with 
lines and baited hooks, is also largely followed. The bait used is either pieces of 
salted menhaden or small mackerel, which are caught and salted for the purpose. 
These are cut up into small squares that are crowded on to the hook, and then 
archer fish. (Toxotes jaculator). 
7 
