Chub Mackerel; Tinker Mackerel — Part 3

Scomber japonicus Houttuyn

Images coming soon.

"It was my fortune to hold the record of the largest tuna, 183 pounds, for two years, and as far as I can learn this fish, which fought me four hours and towed me against the oars of my boatman for ten miles, made the hardest fight on record. Its last run was a rush of four miles, and when the magnificent creature was brought to gaff I had reached the limit of endurance; this fish could have towed the heavy boat for hours longer.

"About forty anglers wear the blue button of the Tuna club showing that they have caught tunas weighing over 100 pounds, and from five to ten are added to the list every year, the record being held at present by Colonel C. P. Morehouse of Pasadena, who took a 251-pound tuna in four hours, bringing it to gaff at night in a heavy sea, into which the fish had towed them. If the adventures of the tuna fishermen could be told it would make a volume of thrilling incidents. Some of the large catches are as follows: C. P. Morehouse, 251 pounds; C. F. Holder, 183 pounds; St. J. Earlscliff, 180 pounds; E. L. Doran, 176 pounds; W. C. Arnot, Elmira, N. Y., 140 pounds; J. M. Studebaker, South Bend, Ind., 130 pounds."

The fishermen about the Gulf of Saint Lawrence sometimes take the horse mackerel by means of steel hooks tied to solid lines and baited with herring, especially in the Bay of Chaleur and off Caraquette. The fishing is quite exciting, although tiresome and requiring a good deal of skill, as in the efforts of the fish to escape they pull with such violence as to endanger the lives of the fishermen by dragging them overboard.

GENUS GERMO JORDAN

The Albacores

This genus is close to Thunnus, from which it differs chiefly in having the pectoral long and sabre-shaped, the length in the adult about 2/5 that of the body. The only species of this genus is the long-finned albacore (Germo alalunga), a pelagic fish of wide distribution in all tropical seas. It is rarely seen on our Atlantic Coast but is common in the Mediterranean. On our Pacific Coast it occurs as far north as San Francisco. It is extremely abundant about the Santa Barbara Islands during its spawning season. As a food-fish it is of little value, its flesh being coarse and oily, far inferior to that of the tuna. It is, however, a good game-fish, reaching a length of 3 feet and a weight of 15 or 20 pounds.

GENUS SARDA CUVIER

The Bonitos

This genus is related to Thunnus and Germo, from which it differs chiefly in having no teeth on the vomer and in the more elongate body. There are 2 species in our waters, fishes of rather large size and metallic colouration.

This genus contains 2 species, S. sarda and S. chilensis. The first of these is the bonito, a species which lives for the most part in the open sea, wandering hither and thither in large schools, preying upon other pelagic fishes and approaching land only when attracted by abundance of suitable food or for spawning purposes. On our coast it occurs in summer from Cape Cod to Cape Sable, and occasionally off Chesapeake Bay, Cape Hatteras, and in the Gulf of Mexico. It reaches a length of 2 or 3 feet and a weight of 10 to 12 pounds. It is a poor food-fish.

It is distinguished from S. chilensis by having 21 spines in the dorsal and the maxillary reaching beyond the orbit.

Colour, dark steel-blue above, with numerous dark narrow stripes obliquely downward and forward from back; under parts silvery.

The California bonito (S. chilensis) is found from San Francisco to Patagonia and Japan. It is abundant northward in summer and, as a food-fish ranks with its Atlantic congener, though large numbers are salted and dried. It reaches a length of 2 or 3 feet and a weight of 12 to 16 pounds. During summer and fall it is abundant among the Santa Barbara Islands where, in company with the barracuda, it is taken in large numbers by trolling. It feeds chiefly upon anchovies and squids.

Colour, dark metallic-blue; sides dusky; several blackish stripes running obliquely upward and backward from pectoral region to upper edge of tail, variable in number and direction.

GENUS SCOMBEROMORUS LACEPEDE

The Spanish Mackerels

Body elongate, wholly covered with rudimentary scales, which do not form a distinct corselet; head pointed, comparatively short and small; mouth wide, the strong teeth in the jaws more or less compressed or knife-shaped; villiform or sand-like teeth on vomer and palatines; maxillary not concealed by preorbital; caudal peduncle with a single keel; spinous dorsal low, of 14 to 18 feeble spines; soft dorsal and anal short, similar, somewhat elevated and falcate, each followed by 7 to 10 finlets; ventrals small; pectoral moderate, near the level of the eye; air-bladder present. Fishes of the high seas, graceful in form and beautiful in colouration; 5 species in our waters.