37 ° 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
quantities are put up for domestic consumption. Salt Mullet sell at the 
rate of eight or ten dollars a barrel, or five or six fish for twenty-five cents. 
I had an opportunity of tasting some salted by a negro at Mill Cove, and 
can bear testimony to their excellence. Their flavor is more like that of 
salted salmon than of mackerel, and they are hard, toothsome, and 
not at all “muddy” in taste, this last being the usual charge made 
against the Mullet. Usually only the “Fat Mullet” are salted, the 
“ Roe Mullet ” being caught later in the season, when they can easily be 
shipped. 
To prepare a Mullet for salting, the head is first cut off, then a cut is 
made on each side of the back-bone, down the back, and the bone is 
removed ; the fish may then be spread out flat, and packed in a barrel. 
In packing, the flesh side is carefully placed up, the skin down. The 
fish are spread out flat upon the skin side and are laid in tiers across the 
bottom of the barrel, each tier being covered with salt. Care is taken to 
have the direction of the bodies in the different tiers at right angles to 
each other. When the Mullet are scaled before packing they command a 
somewhat higher price. Mullet roes, though usually eaten fresh, are 
sometimes salted and dried in the sun. In this condition they are eaten 
raw, like dried beef, or are fried. Large ones sell for ten cents a pair. 
Fishermen often boil the heads to extract the oil, which they use to lubri¬ 
cate their guns. 
Mr. Silas Stearns has prepared a most valuable study of the habits of 
the Mullet, and writes as follows : 
“ The Mullet is one of the most abundant and valuable food-fishes of the 
Gulf coast. It is present on the coast and in the estuaries of the Gulf 
throughout the year, and in most places is pursued by fishermen at all 
seasons, yet, for so common and important a fish, its habits seem to be 
but little known or understood. Intelligent fishermen of long experience 
at particular points have learned many details regarding their local 
movements, which may disagree in many respects with those at some 
other point a hundred miles or so away. A few months spent on the 
southern part of the Florida coast has led me to believe that there is a 
less migratory movement of Mullet in that section than along the northern 
Gulf coast. It is probable that in each bay or section or coast Mullet 
have peculiar habits as to time and manner of arrival, time and place of 
spawning, and the general habits of old fish after spawning and young 
