The frigate mackerel, <I>Auxis rochei</I>, on the New England coast

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532 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

Table of proportionate measurements, ^•

Locality. Point EeyeSjCal.

Inches lOOtha and of lOOths. length.

Extremelength

Lengthtobaseofmiddle caudal rays Body:

Greatest height Least height oftail

Lengthofcaudal peduncle Preopercular spine Head:

Greatest lengthto tip ofopercularspine.

Distance from snouttonape Greatrstdepthatocciput Width^()t'iiit(lorbitalarea Lengthofsnout

Lengthofoperculumtoendofspine Lengthofmaxillary

Lengthofmandible Occipitalprocess Diameterof orbit Dorsal

:

Distance fromsnout Lengthofbase Heightatthirdspine

(/S'o/Oh'uizthofbase Heightath)ugestray Heightat lastray Anal:

Distance fromsnout Lengthofbase Heightatlongestray Caudal

:

Lengthofmiddle rays L.^ngth ofexternalrays Pectoral:

Upper appendage Secondapjienilage ThirdappemUige Length Ventral

:

Distancefromsnout Length

Branchiostegals Dorsal^.*

Anal Pectoral

K^umberof scales in lateral line

7.60 6.35 100

26 7 15 4

41 28 22 7 15i 14|

16 20

36J 25i 17 28 15 7 02 26

IH

21 25 25 21 17i 47i 32 25

VII X-12 I-IO 13-III 54

San Francisco,

Cal.,

Novemher

15, 1880.

THE FRIO ATE MACKEREIi, AUXIS

^KOCIIEI,

ON THE NEIV

EJVGI.AIV©

COAST.

By

O.

BISOIVN OOOBE.

The

United States Fish

Commission

has obtained

numerous

speci-

mens

of afish before entirely

unknown

in the

Western

Atlantic. This

is the frigate mackerel, Auxis Rocliei, twenty-eight barrels of

whicb

were taken in a mackerelseine ten miles east of Block Island,on the 3d ofAugust,

by

theschooner

"American

Eagle", Capt. Josiab Chase,of Provincetown, Mass.

The

frigate mackerel resembles, in

some

particulars, the

common

mackerel; in others,the bonito

—

^thegenus Auxis beingintermediate in

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PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL

^•

MUSEUM. 533

its cnaracterbetweenthe Scomber

and

the related genera Pelamijs

and

Orcymis. Ithasthetwo dorsalfins remote fromeach other,as in Scom-

ber,

and

the generalformof the

body

isslender, likethat of themack-

erel.

The body

is, however,

somewhat

stouter, and, instead ofbeing coveredwith small scales of uniform size,has acorseletof larger scales under

and

behindthe pectoralfins. Insteadofthetwosmallkeels upon each side of thetail, which are so noticeable inthemackerel, it has the single,

more

prominent keel of the bonito

and

the tunny. Itscoloris

grayish blue,somethinglike that of thepollack, thebellybeing lighter thanthe back.

Under

the posteriorpartof thebody, above thelateral line,areafew cloudingsormaculations resembling thoseof the mack-

erel.

The

occurrenceof a large school of this beautifal speciesinour w^atersisvery noteworthy, forthe fish

now

for the first time observed areverypossiblythe precursors of numerous schools yettofollow. It is not

many

yearssincethe bonito

became

aninhabitantof ourwaters,

and

the distribution

and

habits of thefrigatemackerel are supposedto

be very simihir to those of the bonito, Sarda peJamys,

and

the little

tunny, Orcymis thynnus, which alsofirst

came

onthe coast in 1871,and have sincebeen foundin considerable numbers.

The

frigatemackerel hasbeenobservedin the

West

Indies

and

other parts of the tropical Atlantic, as well as on the coast of Europe. In Great Britain itiscalled the"plain bonito". It is not unusual in the Bermudas, whereit is called the "frigate mackerel", a

name

notinap- l)ropriate for adoption in this country, sinceits general appearance is

more

like that of the mackerel thanthe bonito, wliile inswiftness and strengthitis

more

likethe larger

members

of this family.

Since the first appearance^of this fish

many new

observations of its

abundance have been received. These fish seem to have

come

inim-

mense

schools into the waters between

Montauk

Point

and

George's

Bank

;

and

from Mr.Clarke's statements^itappears thattheyhave been observed in small

numbers by

fishermen in previous years. Several vessels have

come

into

Newport

recently reporting their presence in

immense numbers

in the vicinity of Block ^Island. ^{It will}^interest^the

"ichthyophagists^" to

know

thatseveralpersonsin

Newport

have tested thefish,

and

pronounce ^itinferiortothe bonito. Partof theflesh, tliat

on the posterior part of the body, ^is ^white, but behind the gills itis

black

and

rank, while the

meat

nearthe backboneissaid tobeof dis-

agreeable, sour^flavor.

It is hard to predict

what

its influence will be

upon

other fishes alreadyoccupyingourwaters. Its

mouth

is small

and

its teethfeeble, so thatît îs hardlylikelyto become a ravager,likethe bonito and the bluefish. Thereis little probability,on the other hand, ^thatîtsadvent

willbeof

any

special importance from an^economicalpoint of view, ^for its oildoes not seem to beveryabundant,

and

it would ^hardlypayat present to capture ^it solely for the purpose of using its flesh in the manufactureof fertilizers.

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534 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

Mr.A.

Howard

Clarke, iu cliargeof the Fish

Commission

station at Gloucester,lias

commimicated

to ProfessorBaird

some

interesting facts regarding its abundance.

From

tbese statementsit

would

alsoappear that the species has been observed occasionally in past years.

He

writesunder date of

August

10:

"I have

received this

morning

from the schooner

Titz

^J. Babson', just arrived from Block Island, a fish

answering to your description ofthe Auxis, havingacorselet of scales around the pectoral fin, as in the tunny.

The

captain of the vessel,

Joshua

Eiggs, reports that about a

week

ago he

had

a

hundred

barrels in theseine at onetime,

and saw

overtwentyschools ofthem.

He saw them

asfareastasSow-and-Pig LightShip.

They

areveryeasyto catch, flip like

menhaden,

do not rush,

and

are not frightened at the seine.

They

goin inimense

numbers

; he thinks as

many

as one thousand barrels to aschool.

The day

afterthe appearanceof these fishthemack-

erel disappeared, but he does not

know

whether the mackerel were driven

away by them

ornot.

They

feedon mackerel food. Mr. Daniel Hiltz, of the

same

vessel,says that he caught oneof just the

same

kind, in February,1879,on a haddock-trawl

on

the easterni)artoftheMiddle

Bank,

inforty fathoms of water.

He

took it to Boston,

where

it

was

called a

young

bonito.

"Mr. John

Henderson,oftheschooner^'SarahC.

Wharf,

says that

two

vessels caught such fish recently eastward of here.

The

schooner 'American Eagle', of Proviucetown, took a

number

of barrels of

them

intoNewport,

and

sold

them

fora dollara barrel.

Another Cape Cod

vessel"

—

^he^{does not}

know

^her

name —"took aboutfiftybarrels ofthem and threw them away. All the mackerel-seiuers from Block Island report seeing quantities of this new fish within the past foriuight.

The

captain of theschooner 'SarahC.

Wharf

sayshe first

saw them

a fortnight ago,

some

fifteeu miles off Block Island.

The

captain

and

several of the crew of the 'Ella

M.

Johnson', ofKewburyport, just arrived from Block Island, statethey

saw abundance

of the Auxis, but did not

know what

^it

was

until reports

came

from

you

at Newport.

They

opened one

and

found iu its stomach the ordinaryred-mackerel food. This crew differwiththecrew of the schooner'Fitz J. Babson', with regard to the ease of capturing

them

; think

them

ratherdifficult totake; say theyfli[>like porgies,

and

donotrushlikemackerel.

They saw

ten large schools of

them

on Saturdaylast,

when some

fifteenmiles south of BlockIsland."

Ihopethat

any

reader of the

American

Naturalist

who

hasseen this fish willmention it.

Some may,

perhaps,

have

anopportunity of study- ingitshabits.

The

length of those I have seen ranges from 12to16 inches,

and

their weightfromthree-quarters ofa j)Ound toa

pound and

a half or more. Thosesentto

New York

market werepart of thelot

taken

by

the schnooer

"American

Eagle"

and

brought intoNewport,

whence

theywere shipped

by

Mr.

Thompson,

afish-dealerof thatplace.

Itwouldrequire fromeightyto one

hundred

of

them

to filla^barrel; so

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PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 535

the estimate of Captain Eiggs, that thereare athousand barrels inone of the schools, shows

how

exceedingly abundant they

must

be.

The name

"frigate mackerel", used in Bermuda, would seem tobethe best

name

foruseinthis country, since thefishresemble the mackerelmore thanthey dothe bouito ortunny.

Capt. IST. E.

Atwood,

of Provincetown, _Mass., the veteran fisherman- ichthyologist, has examined the specimens, and is satisfied that they belong to the

same

species with a^fish which he found abundantinthe Azoresin 1840, when, ledby thereportsof

Cape Cod

whalers, hewent totheseislands in search of mackerel, themackerel-fishing being poor athome.

No

mackerel v/erefound except thefrigatemackerelreferred to in this note.

NOTACANTiailS

PHASCJANORJJS,

A NEW^ SPECIES OF

IVOTACAIV- TSIID^X FROlfl

TME OKAi^O BANKS OF

IVE WFOaJi'V»i,A3»I]).

By

G.

BBOWrV OOODE.

The

United States Fish Commissionhas receivedfrom the schooner

"Gatherer," ofGloucester,CaptainBriggs Gilpatrick,aremarkablefish

takenfrom the stomach of a ground-shark, Somniosus hrevipinnis^on the

Grand Bank

ofNewfoundland.

Notacanthus,Blocli.

Notacanthus,Bloch.

Acanthonotus, Bloch, Iclithyologia, xii, 1797, p. 113, pi. ccccxxxi. (No description separate from tliat of speciesA. nastis.)

—

Schneider, Bloch, Syst. Ichth. 1801,p.330, pi. xlvii.

Notacanthus,Lacepkde,Hist.Nat.Poiss. 1804.

Head and body much

compressed, the

body

elongate, producedin a long pointed^tail,shapedlikethat ofMacrurus or Fierasfer. Snoutpro- duced,obtuse,roundedatitstip.

The

cleftofthe

mouth

inferior. (The specimen ismutilated, but the maxillaries donot appeartobeprotrac- tile. Dorsalfin almost rudimentary,consisting of very short, flexible spines,remote fromeach otherandnot connected

by

amembrane.

Anal

fin very long^; its origin closebehindthevent, whichis situatednearly

midway

of the length of the

body

; its anteriorportionis composedof separate flexible spines, without

membrane,

resembliug those of the dorsal; these gradually lengthen,gradingintothearticulatedbranched rays.

No

caudal. Ventrals broad, with broad, peduncle-like bases, closelycontiguous, separated only

by

aslightgroove at the base,situ- ated near thevent. Teethacicular, in singlerows

upon

maxillaries, in a^double

row upon

mandibulars, viUiform

and

ina doublerow upon ^the palatines.

Vomerine

teeth notapparent {!). Scalesvery luuiierous, of moderate size, round, thin, flexible. Branchiostegals about S; gills 4.

Notacanthusphasganorus,newspecies.

The body

is

much

compressed,its greatestwidth slightlymorethan one-thirdthe height of the

body

at thevent, its width at thetailfrom