Bass, Pike, Perch, and OthersHenshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Science
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
Henshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Fishes; Fishing
The horse-eye jack grows to a larger size than the runner, but is not
nearly so good a food-fish, though nearly its equal as a game-fish. Its
flesh is reputed to be poisonous at certain seasons in the tropics, and
whether true or not, it is not held in much favor, though it is caught
by boys at the wharves of Key West, and I presume is eaten. The same
tackle and baits recommended for the runner can be utilized for the
horse-eye jack.
THE POMPANO
(_Trachinotus carolinus_)
The pompano was first described by Linnæus, in 1766, from Dr. Garden's
specimens from South Carolina, which accounts for its specific name. It
is abundant on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, to which it is mostly
confined, though it occasionally strays north to Cape Cod in summer, and
rarely to the West Indies.
It has a short, deep body, being nearly half as deep as long, oblong and
robust. Its head is short, about half as long as the depth of the body,
with a small, low mouth, and with few or no teeth in the jaws; the snout
is blunt, the profile from end of snout to the eye about vertical, and
from thence to the dorsal fin is regularly arched. The color is bluish
above and golden or silvery below; the pectoral and anal fins are
yellow, shaded with blue; caudal fin with bluish reflections.
The pompano frequents the sandy beaches of the keys and islands of the
Gulf coast, mostly the outside shores, where it feeds on beach-fleas and
the beautiful little mollusks known as "pompano-shells," also on small
shrimps and other shore-loving organisms. I consider the pompano to be
the best food-fish in either salt or fresh water--the prince of
food-fishes, it is incomparable. It is caught principally in haul seines
by the fishermen on the flood tide. On the Atlantic coast it is abundant
at Jupiter inlet and at Lake Worth, but not so plentiful as about the
outside and inside beaches of the islands about Charlotte Harbor on the
Gulf coast. In the summer it strays northward to the Carolina coasts.
Its usual weight is a pound or two, rarely exceeding eighteen inches in
length or four pounds in weight. It is often confounded with several
other species, as the permit (_Trachinotus goodei_), which reaches three
feet in length and twenty-five or thirty pounds in weight; also with the
gaff top-sail pompano (_Trachinotus glaucus_), and the round pompano
(_Trachinotus falcatus_), both of which grow larger than the true
pompano and are often sold for the genuine article by dealers; but no
one who has eaten a true pompano can be deceived by these other species.
It spawns in the summer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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