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Food Fishes - The Mackerel, Salmon, And Others

Updated on February 12, 2012

Mackerel And Other Food Fishes

Various members of the Mackerel fish species are important food fishes. From this fish family comes the common mackerel of the Atlantic Ocean, and also the tunas, bluefish, bonitos, yellowtails, Pacific mackerels and albacores. We consume all of these types as fresh fish, with the exception of the tunas which are popular as canned fish.


Original Art By Jerilee Wei - When hatched from the egg and a day or two old it is like this, measuring only about an eighth of an inch.
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - When hatched from the egg and a day or two old it is like this, measuring only about an eighth of an inch. | Source
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - As it grows it changes shape, and when about three-fifths of an inch long it begins to develop spines on the head.
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - As it grows it changes shape, and when about three-fifths of an inch long it begins to develop spines on the head. | Source

Flatfish

Another useful group includes the flat fish, such as flounders and halibuts. We get these from both the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. In the past, it was not unusual for some halibuts to weigh as much as five hundred pounds. The Flounders are much smaller.

Aside from their importance as food, flat fish (turbots) are interesting because of their habits and peculiar body form.As adults they habitually lie on the bottom, on their sides, and always with the same side of the body upward.

Now, early in life these fish have eyes in normal position, one on each side of the head. However, one eye gradually changes position until it has joined the other eye on the side of the head that is upward or directed to the light. For a more detailed description of this phenomenon check out my previous article.

Original Art By Jerilee Wei - In the early stages of its life it is symmetrical in form, and both sides of its body are colored alike
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - In the early stages of its life it is symmetrical in form, and both sides of its body are colored alike | Source
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - Now an amazing thing happens. One of the eyes begins to travel around the head, as we see here.
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - Now an amazing thing happens. One of the eyes begins to travel around the head, as we see here. | Source
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - At last the under eye has traveled around to the top side of the fish. The under-surface becomes white. Other flat fishes change their form and habits in the same remarkable way.
Original Art By Jerilee Wei - At last the under eye has traveled around to the top side of the fish. The under-surface becomes white. Other flat fishes change their form and habits in the same remarkable way. | Source
Atlantic salmon. Salmo salar
Atlantic salmon. Salmo salar | Source

The Salmon

In thinking about food and game fish we are scarcely likely to overlook the salmon family. I've written in the past more extensively about salmon, but did want to mention how important they have become as a food fish. Several members of this fish group live in fresh water, including certain species of trout and the whitefish of the Great Lakes.

However our principal interest is likely to center upon those species that spend most of their lives int he ocean, but ascend streams to spawn. They are the species that provide us with our canned salmon, once plentiful and inexpensive, but now a definite luxury since the fish have become scarcer and more popular.


Other Food Fishes

There are, of course, many other food and game fishes that are important. Sea basses furnish both sport and food. Tarpon are highly prized in southern waters by fishermen who prefer a fish that will put up a good fight. From the warmer seas come such food types as the Pompano and the Snappers, each variety having its champions among people who like to eat fish.

We also shouldn't forget Swordfish, which are much sought for sport, and more importantly, because we use them as food. They grow to large weights and are noted for their speed in the water and for their fighting ability.

A swordfish has a very long, pointed upper jaw -- hence the word "sword." When harpooned, which is the preferred way of capturing these big surface dwellers, the swordfish has been known to turn upon its pursuers, driving the sword through the bottom of the fisherman's boat, and even sinking it.

Sailfish are related types, well known to the sportsmen. The back fin of a sailfish is very large, and sail-like in appearance, hence their name. There is a sword, as in the case of the swordfish. Sailfish live in the warmer seas, and they, too, are rapid swimmers. They sometimes are over ten feet long. When hooked by fishermen, they often leap clear out of the water, which is quite a sight.

Juvenile american eels (Anguilla rostrata).
Juvenile american eels (Anguilla rostrata). | Source
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Sagasso sea:
Sargasso Sea

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In case you missed it in elementary geography, the Sargasso Sea is located in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Eels Who Once A Great Mystery To Mankind

Although they look rather like serpents, eels are really bony fish and are fairly important food fishes, too, especially to Europeans. However, the really interesting thing about the common eel was the mystery that surrounded its comings and going for centuries. It was a puzzle to Aristotle, one of the earliest students of animals. Young eels were seen to come in from the sea, and to ascend fresh water streams to take up their abode. He wondered where did they come from?

Aristotle seemed to believe that eels did not come from eggs, but from unknown materials at the bottom of the sea. During medieval times, some Europeans came out with another idea -- that pieces of hair from the tails of horses, when placed in the water, would develop into eels! Of course such a notion was sheer nonsense.

Of course, now man knows that each year mature eels from the rivers of North America and Europe go down to the sea. They begin a long journey to the portion of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea.

Here the eggs are laid, apparently at some distance beneath the surface. When they hatch, the young are not very eel like in appearance. Rather, they are just about transparent and more like a standard fish in form.

They begin a long journey, some of them toward Europe and some toward North America. The trip to Europe covers about three thousand miles and it takes the eels three years to make the journey. The North American eels have a route only about one thousand miles long, and they make it in a single year.

By the time the eels reach their future fresh water homes they are eel-like in appearance. They now live in streams or lakes until they become mature and are ready for the long pilgrimage back to the Sargasso Sea.

Conger oceanicus from the Gulf of Mexico
Conger oceanicus from the Gulf of Mexico | Source

Conger Eel

The eel I've been describing above is the common eel and should not be confused with the Conger eel, a much larger type which spends its entire life in the sea. Like other eels, the

Conger is snakelike in form, and its large size and ferocious nature make it a respected antagonist. Some of the myths about sea serpents or sea monsters may have their origins in the sightings of large Conger eels.

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