. A guide to the study of fishes. Fishes; Zoology; Fishes. Cavallas and Pampanos 279 Its maximum weight is from twelve to twenty pounds, but most of those taken are much smaller. It is one of the most voracious of all fish. Concerning this, Professor Baird observes: "There is no parallel in point of destructiveness to the bluefish among the marine species on our coast, whatever may be the case among some of the carnivorous fish of the South American waters. The bluefish has been well likened to an animated chopping-machine the business of which is to cut to pieces and otherwise destroy as
. A guide to the study of fishes. Fishes; Zoology; Fishes. Cavallas and Pampanos 279 Its maximum weight is from twelve to twenty pounds, but most of those taken are much smaller. It is one of the most voracious of all fish. Concerning this, Professor Baird observes: "There is no parallel in point of destructiveness to the bluefish among the marine species on our coast, whatever may be the case among some of the carnivorous fish of the South American waters. The bluefish has been well likened to an animated chopping-machine the business of which is to cut to pieces and otherwise destroy as many fish as possible in a. Fig. 21s.—Bluefish, C'heilodipterus saltatrix (L.). New York. given space of time. All writers are tmanitnous in regard to the destructiveness of the bluefish. Going in large schools in pursuit of fish not much inferior to themselves in size, they move along like a pack of hungry wolves, destroying every- thing before them. Their trail is marked by fragments of fish and by the stain of blood in the sea, as, where the fish is too large to be swallowed entire, the hinder portion will be bitten off and the anterior part allowed to float away or sink. It is even maintained with great earnestness that such is the glut- tony of the fish, that when the stomach becomes full the con- tents are disgorged and then again filled. It is certain that it kills many more fish than it requires for its own support. "The youngest fish, equally with the older, perform this function of destruction, and although they occasionally devour crabs, worms, etc., the bulk of their sustenance throughout the greater part of the year is derived from other fish. Noth- ing is more common than to find a small bluefish of six or eight inches in length under a school of minnows making continual dashes and captures among them. The stomachs of the blue-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - colo
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