FISHES OF THE PACIFIC 

 COAST 



BY DAVID STARR JORDAN 



Chancellor, Stanford University 



THE total number of species of fishes known 

 to exist in the waters of California is 465. 

 These may be grouped as follows in regard to 

 their distribution: 



About 170 species may be referred to the cold 

 water fauna. These are species that live near the 

 shore, and whose proper home is found north of 

 Point Concepcion, or in the cold current which 

 sweeps along our coast and which renders its 

 waters less warm than in corresponding regions 

 on the Atlantic side. About 120 species belong to 

 the semi-tropical fauna. This occurs to the south 

 of Point Concepcion and beyond the reach of the 

 cold currents of the north. Of course, these two 

 categories are not sharply divided by Point Con- 

 cepcion, many of the northern species being found 

 south of this point in deeper water, or among the 

 rocks, some, even of the northern species, going 

 far down into Mexico. On the other hand, many 

 southern species find their way northward as far 

 as San Francisco. Others of them come north- 

 ward in the summer, moving southward as winter 

 approaches. Thus many species properly southern 

 are found regularly in the bay of Monterey. 



Of the 170 species that belong to the north ol 

 Point Concepcion, we have two very distinct cate* 

 gories; the one comprises the Arctic and sub- Arctic 

 fishes like the halibut, the sturgeon, and the her- 

 ring, and several varieties of the flounders. With 

 these are a great body of peculiarly California types, 

 which are scarcely or not at all represented in 

 other regions, and which evidently had their origin 

 upon our own coast. Among these, and most con- 

 spicuous, are the twenty or more species of surf 

 fishes, which are commonly and wrongly known 

 as perch. All of these bring forth their young 

 alive, well-developed at birth. Scarcely less abun- 

 dant are the various species of rock fishes, red, 

 green and black in color, which go by the general 

 name of rock cod. These also bring forth their 

 young alive, although quite small. The presence 

 of these two types, together with the peculiar coast 

 type of salmon, five species in all, may be held as 

 the most remarkable feature of the fish fauna of 

 California. 



115 



