BONITOES AND TUNNIES. 



mature. The hreeding grounds of the Bonito, like those of the swordfish, 

 are doubtless in some remote quarter of the globe. The swordfish sj^awns 

 in the Mediterranean, if nowhere else. The species is cosmopolitar, and 

 occurs in nearly every quarter of the globe, though perhaps nowhere in 

 greater abundance than along our own shores. 



On the California coast occurs a closely related species, the Pacific 

 Bonito, Sarda chilcnsis, which is thus described by Prof. Jordan : 



" This fish is everywhere known as the Bonito. The names 'Spanish 

 Mackerel,' 'Skipjack' and 'Tuna' are also sometimes applied to it. It 

 reaches an average weight of about twelve pounds, but the body is con- 

 siderably longer and more slender than that of an Albicore of the same 

 weight. It ranges from San Francisco southward to Chili, being abund- 

 ant in Monterey Bay and about the Santa Barbara Islands in the summer 

 and fall. It approaches to within half a mile of the shore, where, in 

 company with the barracuda, it is taken in great numbers by trolling. 

 It spawns in August or September. Its arrival is in early summer and its 

 departure in the fall, at which season the young are said to be found 

 abundantly in the kelp. It feeds chiefly on anchovies and squids. As 

 a food-fish it is not held in high esteem, the fish being coarse. Great 

 numbers are salted and dried, and are in that state considered far inferior 

 to the barracuda and yellow-tail." 



The Striped Bonito, Orcyniis pelamys, already mentioned, is dis- 

 tinguished from other species by the presence of four dark lines, which 

 begin at the pectoral fin and run along the side of the belly to the tail, 

 the sides of the common Bonito being of a silvery white. This species, 

 is occasionally taken on the European coast, but has rarely been known 

 to enter the Mediterranean. It is found in the Pacific on the coast 

 of China and Japan, and is the species most commonly known to mariners 

 as the Bonito, or Albicore, of the activity and voracity of which, as 

 observed from the decks of vessels at sea, so many descriptions have been 

 written. The first individual on our coast was that seen by Mr. Barnet 

 Phillips in 1S76. Another was taken by Mr. J. H. Blake at Province- 

 town in July, 1877. Others have since been observed at Woods Holl and 

 in the New York markets. The cajjture of the Stri])cd Bonito is a 

 favorite subject Avith Japanese artists. I have seen many drawings and 

 prints in Japanese books, in which the characteristic form and markings 

 of this fish are faithfully delineated. The Jajjanese appear to catch it in 

 great quantities, with rod, line, and hook. 



