Fig. 206.—Mackerel, Scomber scombrus L. New York.
Professor Goode writes:
"Upon the abundance of mackerel depends the welfare of many thousands of the citizens of Massachusetts and Maine. The success of the mackerel-fishery is much more uncertain than that of the cod-fishery, for instance, for the supply of cod is quite uniform from year to year. The prospects of each season are eagerly discussed from week to week in thousands of little circles along the coast, and are chronicled by the local press. The story of each successful trip is passed from mouth to mouth, and is a matter of general congratulation in each fishing community. A review of the results of the American mackerel-fishery, and of the movements of the fish in each part of the season, would be an important contribution to the literature of the American fisheries.
"The mackerel-fishery is peculiarly American, and its history is full of romance. There are no finer vessels afloat than the American mackerel-schooners—yachts of great speed and unsurpassed for seaworthiness. The modern instruments of capture are marvels of inventive skill, and require the highest degree of energy and intelligence on the part of the fishermen. The crews of the mackerel-schooners are still for the most part Americans of the old colonial stock, although the cod and halibut fisheries are to a great extent given up to foreigners.
"When the mackerel is caught, trout, bass, and sheepshead cannot vanquish him in a gastronomic tournament. In Holland, to be sure, the mackerel is not prized, and is accused of tasting like rancid fish-oil, and in England, even, they are usually lean and dry, like the wretched skeletons which are brought to market in April and May by the southern fleet, which goes forth in the early spring from Massachusetts to intercept the schools as they approach the coasts of Carolina and Virginia. They are not worthy of the name of mackerel. Scomber Scombrus is not properly in season until the spawning time is over, when the schools begin to feed at the surface in the Gulf of Maine and the 'North Bay.'
"Just from the water, fat enough to broil in its own drippings, or slightly corned in strong brine, caught at night and eaten in the morning, a mackerel or a bluefish is unsurpassable. A well-cured autumn mackerel is perhaps the finest of all salted fish, but in these days of wholesale capture by the purse-seine, hasty dressing and careless handling, it is very difficult to obtain a sweet and sound salt mackerel. Salt mackerel may be boiled as well as broiled, and a fresh mackerel may be cooked in the same manner. Americans will usually prefer to do without the sauce of fennel and gooseberry which transatlantic cooks recommend. Fresh and salt, fat and lean, new or stale, mackerel are consumed by Americans in immense quantities, as the statistics show, and whatever their state, always find ready sale."
Smaller, less important, less useful, but far more widely distributed is the chub-mackerel, or thimble-eyed mackerel, Scomber japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782), usually known by the later name of Scomber colias (Gmelin, 1788). In this species the air-bladder (absent in the common mackerel) is moderately developed. It very much resembles the true mackerel, but is of smaller size, less excellence as a food-fish, and keeps nearer to the shore. It may be usually distinguished by the presence of vague, dull-gray spots on the sides, where the true mackerel is lustrous silvery.
This fish is common in the Mediterranean, along our Atlantic coast, on the coast of California, and everywhere in Japan.
Scomber antarcticus is the familiar mackerel of Australia. Scomber loo, silvery, with round black spots, is the common mackerel of the South Seas, locally known as Ga.