POMPANO ( Sp. pampano, young vine-ten dril), or PALOMETA. A fish of southern waters representing a section of the great `horse-mack erel' family Caraugida% and of admirable qual ity. The 'common' pompano (Toff-1111,M us Caro linus) dwells along the South Atlantic and Gulf shores of the United States and southward, and is occasionally seen on the Pacific Coast. It has the ovate form of the group (see Plate of I lonsE MA(KEEELs Aso Au,'Es), is bluish and silvery in colors, and is about 18 in ches long,. This pompano is found all the year round at the Florida Keys and south of that, but northward enters the hays in large schools in the spring. These disperse to the feeding and spawning grounds: in shallow inlets. and gather again in the autumn for migration. This fish is caught in seines and otherwise both in spring and fall, hut is fattest and best in the latter season.
Several other species exist. some of which are
valuable. The largest, the 'great pompano' or 'permit' (loodri ) of the West In dian region, reaches a length of three feet; it is -closely allied to a well-known African' one. An ot her noticeable species is the 'round pompano' (Trachynolus laical us), which may be identical with an East Indian form; it has a more circular outline than the others, and ranges northward to Vineyard Sound. It is not so good as the com mon pompano; and several other of the numerous species are almost worthless as food, though some, like the 'banner' or 'gaff-topsail' pompano of the Carolina and Gulf coasts (Trachynotils !Fla urns) , are exceedingly handsome in form and colors, The so-called pompano (Rhombus situ m us) so highly prized in southern California. is a somewhat different fish, being one of the true harvest-fishes (q.v.).