INTRODUCTION 



This bulletin is written with two objectives in mind. First, it is 

 designed to provide authorized names for the more common marine fishes 

 of California, in the hope that these names will be used in the fishing 

 industry and by sportsmen. Second, it is designed to provide a ready 

 reference from which the fisherman or the buyer can identify those species 

 seen most often in the commercial and the sport catch. It is not presented 

 as a treatise on our marine fishes, for it describes only a fraction of the 

 species known from California. It is meant as a guide for any person 

 interested in fish regardless of his technical background, so scientific 

 terminology is avoided wherever possible. 



SCOPE 



There have been two other bulletins of this sort published by the 

 California Division of Fish and Game. The first,^ Number 28, was very 

 broad in scope. It included both fresh-water and marine fishes, sharks, 

 rays, and some invertebrates. The second,^ Number 45, treated sharks 

 and rays in considerably more detail. The present publication is con- 

 cerned only with the "true" bony fishes caught in the ocean off Cali- 

 fornia, including the anadromous species — those which enter fresh water 

 to spawn. 



By limiting this paper to marine fishes, we have been able to include 

 a number of species which were not discussed in Bulletin 28. The criterion 

 for selection was whether or not the fish in question was one appearing 

 with reasonable frequency in either the sport or the commercial catch. 

 Several fish of no importance either economically or as game fish come 

 under this standard. They are, however, caught sufficiently often, usually 

 by accident rather than design, to be the objects of interest and recurring 

 questions as to their identity. It was not always easy to decide whether 

 a given fish should be included, and no doubt some readers will wonder 

 why one fish appears while another does not. The list as finally selected 

 reflects the views of many interested people and is as representative as 

 space would allow. 



The format follows that of Bulletins 28 and 45, and descriptions 

 have been taken almost bodily from the former in several cases. In a 

 number of groups of fishes, studies made in the intervening years have 

 brought out easier means of identification and the descriptive paragraphs 

 have been changed accordingly. Color is often a difficult character to 

 describe, for a given fish may change its color in life, undergo further 

 changes on death, and then have these shades completely altered after 

 freezing or preserving. In addition, many species are iridescent and 

 two people looking at the same fish will see different tones. The color 

 patterns given herein are those believed typical of the species shortly 



1 Walford, Lionel A. Handbook of common commercial and game fishes of Cali- 

 fornia. Calif. Div. Fish Game, Fish Bull. No. 2S, 181 pp., 137 figs., 1931. 



- Waif ord, Lionel A. The sharks and rays of California. Calif. Div. Fish Game, 

 Fi.sh Bull. No. 45, 66 pp., 58 figs., 1935. 



( ■". ) 



