THE GAME FISHES OF 7 HE PERSIAN GULF. 131 



MUSANDAM PENINSULAR. 



It is a problem which scientilic rosoaroh can only solvo whether the true 

 pelagic fishes enter the Persian (.Julf proper or not. The author's personal 

 opinion is that the limit of their western migration is the Peninsular of 

 Musandam. Enquiries have boon instituted, and omitting Bushire the 

 ports mentioned have all been visited on two separate occasions at an 

 interval of 26 months. In no single instance were there any indications 

 that the great families of pelagic tishes penetrated into those regions. Is 

 there any solid foundation on which this hypothesis can be based ? A 

 glance at the chart of the Persian Gulf proper will demonstrate the fact 

 that, with the exception perhaps of one hole in the sea-bed south of Tanb 

 Island, there are comparatively few st)inidings of over oO fathoms, through- 

 out the length and breadth of this enormous basin. Contrast this actuality 

 with the condition that obtains in the Gulf of Oman. At a point (> miles 

 south-east of Cape Jask the sea-iloor has sagged to a depth of nearly 1,400-ft. 

 It has already been remarked that the pirao when hooked over this shelf 

 invariably heads for the open sea. Is not this settled impulse proof posi- 

 tive that, in the throes of his struggle for life, instinct is driving him to seek 

 refuge in his true home — the mighty deeps ? Is it at all reasonable to 

 contend then that he will voluntarily abandon this habitat assigned to him 

 by nature and migrate into a comparatively shallow trap which the same 

 nature by intuition tells him is but a blind alley ':' By some sceptics such 

 notions may be labelled " fantastic". Does any one but a bigotted atheist 

 deny that some power guides the fowls of the air in their annual migrations ^ 

 Does not this self-same power then also pilot the tishes of the sea in 

 their yearly migrations ? But let us conclude our voyage by dropping 

 anchor at 



Muscat. 



From the deck of the steamer, as we approach this port, the eye that 

 is geologically inclined will discern at once that the Sultan's Capital is 

 situated practically in the centre of what w^as at some prehistoric era a 

 terrific volcanic upheaval. The crumbling slopes of the jagged barren 

 bluffs drop sheer down into abysmal depths below. The fishing-grounds — 

 and this expression is no Irishism — lie not in the harbours of Muscat and 

 Muttra — few healthy game fish would frequent those polluted road-steads; 

 the haunts of the true pelagic families may be looked for some three miles 

 off shore. In these marine labyrinths the locals bottom-fish and catch 

 surmai at an approximate depth of 60 fathoms ! Here also roams the 

 ijeedur of 100 lb. and the seica and a host of other game fishes, whose 

 identity is as yet undetermined. But lord of all these finny creatures is 

 the world-famed sword-fish. There are records to shew that this Goliath 

 has been hooked on rod and line, but unless the deeds of bygone anglers 

 are being overlooked, never yet has this mammoth been brought to gaff 

 by a western angler. " Tis better to have hooked and lost than never to 

 have hooked at all " is perhaps some consolation to an angler, as it is 

 reputed to be to the love-sick swain who has just been the recipient of a 

 broadside from a super-virago. Still— the thought is bound to rankle — " if 



only I had etc., etc." The day may yet dawn, however, when the 



record for the heaviest fish caught on rod and line in Indian waters may 

 pass over the Gulf of Oman from Jask to Muscat. 



From the foregoing dissertation the prospective angler should have 

 derived a comprehensive idea of the sport that awaits him in the waters 

 of the Persian Gulf. Let us therefore pass on to a consideration of the 

 three remaining problems that were enunciated at the commencement of 

 this paper. 



