THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



which they extract the enormous amount of oxygen 

 required for their tremendous exertions. They have been 

 known to leap as high as eighteen feet into the air, 

 across a distance of thirty feet. 



The finest tarpon-fishing in the world is carried on 

 near the coasts of Florida, where spearmen in some areas 

 are not allowed to shoot the fish. In other areas, fierce 

 struggles often take place if the tarpon is not killed with 

 the first shot, for tarpon will fight to the death, even 

 though badly wounded. Yet despite the incessant war- 

 fare carried on against them by man they are surprisingly 

 tame if not attacked. 



In contrast with the tarpon, the marine sunfish is a 

 lazy creature, and prefers to move slowly about on the 

 surface. It is often seen sleeping on the sea, quite motion- 

 less, or perhaps turning round and round like a wheel. 

 It is almost circular in form, as its name implies: the 

 posterior part of its body looks as though a part of the 

 fish had been cut squarely off and the tail replaced on the 

 line of severance. Some naturalists say that this actually 

 happens in its early development : that it loses part of its 

 posterior and grows a new tail afterwards. 



The gills of the sunfish are arranged in comb-like 

 fringes. The fish may attain a length of four or five feet, 

 and a weight of several thousand pounds. While floating 

 and slowly revolving on the sea, the sunfish keeps its eyes 

 just above the surface, so that it surveys the entire 

 horizon as it makes one revolution. 



Among the great game fishes of the seas the tunny is 

 king — a monarch who survives and reigns despite the 

 determined attacks on his kingdom by sportsmen of 

 many nations. He is a royal and magnificent fish — in size, 

 courage, fighting skill, and in his kingly contribution to 

 the food of mankind. Immense numbers enter the Medi- 

 terranean by the Straits of Gibraltar in May and June, 

 and immediately divide : one royal cortege following the 

 shores of Europe and the other those of Africa, in search 



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