FIG. 207.—The Long-fin Albacore, _Germo alalunga_ (Gmelin). Gulf Stream. ]
"One of these fishes is a marvel of beauty and strength. Every line in its contour is suggestive of swift motion. The head is shaped like a minie bullet, the jaws fit together so tightly that a knife-edge could scarcely pass between, the eyes are hard, smooth, their surfaces on a perfect level with the adjoining surfaces. The shoulders are heavy and strong, the contours of the powerful masses of muscle gently and evenly merging into the straighter lines in which the contour of the body slopes back to the tail. The dorsal fin is placed in a groove into which it is received, like the blade of a clasp-knife in its handle. The pectoral and ventral fins also fit into depressions in the sides of the fish. Above and below, on the posterior third of the body, are placed the little finlets, each a little rudder with independent motions of its own, by which the course of the fish may be readily steered. The tail itself is a crescent-shaped oar, without flesh, almost without scales, composed of bundles of rays flexible, yet almost as hard as ivory. A single sweep of this powerful oar doubtless suffices to propel the bonito a hundred yards, for the polished surfaces of its body can offer little resistance to the water. I have seen a common dolphin swimming round and round a steamship, advancing at the rate of twelve knots an hour, the effort being hardly perceptible. The wild duck is said to fly seventy miles in an hour. Who can calculate the speed of the bonito? It might be done by the aid of the electrical contrivances by which is calculated the initial velocity of a projectile. The bonitoes in our sounds to-day may have been passing Cape Colony or the Land of Fire day before yesterday."
Another bonito, _Sarda chilensis_, is common in California; in Chile, and in Japan. This species has fewer dorsal spines than the bonito of the Atlantic, but the same size, coloration, and flesh. Both are blue, with undulating black stripes along the side of the back.
The genus _Scomberomorus_ includes mackerels slenderer in form, with larger teeth, no corselet, and the flesh comparatively pale and free from oil.
FIG. 208.—The Spanish Mackerel, _Scomberomorus maculatus_ (Mitchill). New York. ]