Volume 37, Plate XIII / Ichthyology (Fish)

Black-Fish & Scad, Horse Mackerel, or Pilas Fish

Centrolophus pompilus & Caranx trachurus

1. The Scad, Horse Mackerel, or Pilas Fish. Rather smaller than the common Mackerel and named not for size but the alleged coarseness of its flesh, this fish bears seventy to seventy-five large scaly plates along the lateral line, and opinions on its eating differ greatly. Scarce in Scotland but abundant in western and southern Britain, it usually keeps near the ground yet gathers in immense shoals pursuing herring fry, as off Glamorganshire in 1834, when it was caught by the cart-load.
2. The Black-Fish. Only four specimens, all off Cornwall, have been taken of this remarkable fish, well known in the Mediterranean and visiting Nice in April and September, where it spawns in autumn. Wholly black with intensely black fins, a single dorsal on a thin ridge, and very small scales scarcely seen, it reaches fifteen inches in smaller examples and up to two feet eight inches, being strong and swift with a tough skin that strips like an eel’s.