The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-16
THE FISH sAvANNAz1ANs EAT.
The Favorite Varieties and Where
They Come From.

They Come From.
There hasn't been as dull a fish market
for a long time as that OF day
before yesterday. There was not a
sturgeon in the market. and only a very
few cat fish. and the result was the usual
fish dinner yesterday among the colored
people was not had. The windy weather,
and atmospheric disturbances have tended
to drive the fish TO deep water, and the line
and net have been cast in vain both in the
salt and fresh water for the last week
The fsh last week was principally salt
| water fish from the Gulf coast of Florida
and fresh water fish from the inland lakes.
| Two hundred barrels of mullet were re-
celved Friday night from Florida for yes
terday's market, and some small native
mullet were caught here. but they went off
rapidly. A few whiting, crOakers and sea
pass were in market in the afternoon, but
they had disappeared before night.
In favorable weather for the home fisher
men, a Saturday fish market offers a va
riety Of salt and fresh water fish. The
native salt water fish usually in the market
at this season are the mullet, croaker, whit
ing, sturgeon catfish and red bass, With a
Few trout, ana of fresh water fish the Dream,
| catfish and eels, aud shad in the winter
season. Crabs and shrimps were plentiful,
| but there were no oysters or clans to Oe
had
L. T. Maggioni, a veteran fish dealer,
| gives quite an interesting account of the
dlferent Florida fish, which are popular in
this market, and the absence of which last
weeH would have made the market bare.
he exhibit ed the Varities, which numbered
the pompRno, tue favorite fish Of epicures,
which retailS readily at 90 cents per
pound; the sheepshead, the mullet, the red
snapper. the cavalia and the mongrel snap
per, fish that has only been in the Savan-
nah market for the last three years. 1t
ranges IN weight from three-quarters of a
pound to three pounds, and is said to be a
very palatable fish. 1t sells at cents per
pound.
Tne cavalia, which resembles the pompa-
no in appearance only, retailS at cents per
| pound, and this resemblance is so close that
| Mr.. Maggioni says that he doubts if there
are more than dozen people in Savannah
| who know pOmpano from a cavalia. The
| dlfference is narrow one, the elongation
OF the spinal part of the fish at its junction
with the tail being inclined to roundness in
the cavalia, while in the pompano it is al
most as fiat as the body of the fish.
The demand for the pompano in the high
| priced northern restaurants is such that few
find their way into this market, owing to
| the small amount of those fish taken and
"AA4SA biS OH4f NohSlb LOl Ol tu6
gulf coast OF Florida. Founders are q
favorite fish, but the same reasons make
| them scarce. The Spanish mackerel rank
third in the high-priced fish of the gulf
| coast, and they come TO this market in their
season. The red snapper comes lower, no
fancy price attaching to them, and they
retail at from 8 to 70 cents per pound.
according to the size of the fish, the higher
price being commanded by the smaIler-sized
fish.
The shad season for native shad does not
| open until about the last of December, and
lasts until March Dealers usually supply
the fishermen with fishing tackle and get
one-third of the catch and buy the other
two-thrds. There are two varieties of
shad, the white shad and the hickory shad,
and ia making their purchases the dealers
are given two hickory shad by the fisher
men at the price of one white shad. The
hickory shad is known among fish dealers
as o bastard shad, is inferior in
quality to the white shad, and,
withal, as full Of bones as a herring.
Some of the fishermen say that dealers have
beer, beating them down In prices, getting
two hickory shad for the price of one white
shad and keeping up the selling price as high
as that demanded for the white shad
Peter johnson, keeper of the wing dam
light, and veteran shad fisherman who
has kept record Of his annual catch for
| nine years, thinks the dealer who was in
terviewed in the MORNING NEWS of Aug.
10, is trying to bull the market on hickory
shad by the claim that the
white shad are disappearing. johnson
says that the attention Of the fishermen has
been particularly attracted to this state
ment of the dealers in the MORNING NEWS
of Sept. z: THE dealers say that since the
fish commissioner began planting shad,
hickory shad are fast making their appear
ance Formerly white shad were the
variety caught most. Lately the hickory
variety seem to be taking tleir place, and
they have to be sold for just as much as the
other variety, although tney are very in
ferior fish,
To this statement johnson says the fisher
men would ike TO know why 1T is that the
dealers have to sell hickory shad at the
same price of white shad, when they pay
hickory shad. johnson says that is GER
tainly all they are worth by comparison
with the superior fish which they resemble
in appearance, but not in flavor and freedom
from bones" The fishermen do not believe
that the fish commission is stocking the
waters with the hickory shad, and johnson
says that the catch of each variety of shad
varies, his catch of white shad TOR the sea-
son of 1889 being the second largest for nine
years, aud his catch of hickory shad being
the largest for nine years, and one year he
caught none tall. johnson, who has others
fishing for him, did not keep a record of
their catch, but he Nc kept the following
rec = d of his catch 1878:
Whita Hickory