Fishes of the Pacific Coast 



The character of the water is also an impor- 

 tant matter. About the rocks of La Jolla and Santa 

 Catalina the waters are as clear as about a coral 

 reef in the tropics. In these clear waters are found 

 the same types of fishes that would be found about 

 a coral bank. The species are not the same as 

 those which occur very far to the south, but the 

 general character of the fishes is that of a coral 

 region. On the other hand, in the more or less 

 muddy waters of the Bay of San Francisco, only 

 those species are found to which the cloudy or 

 muddy condition of the water is not objectionable; 

 and the brilliant coloration of the clear-water 

 fishes is totally wanting among them. 



As regards their preference in the matter of 

 surroundings, the fishes of the Pacific Coast may 

 again be divided as follows: Of the pelagic spe- 

 cies, about 30 visit the coast of California. These 

 are fishes which swim freely in the open sea, living 

 mostly near the surface, often moving for hun- 

 dreds of miles, and belonging to no one oceanic 

 area more than to another. Of species living about 

 the rocks and feeding upon the small animals which 

 abound in the sea weeds, there are fifty species, 

 of which thirty belong to the group known as 

 rock-cod, the genera Sebastichthys and Sebastodes. 

 All of these are food fishes, though not of the best 

 quality. One feature concerning them which is 

 not generally known is that all of them are vivipa- 

 rous. Their eggs are produced in immense num- 

 bers, but they are hatched in the body of the 

 female, the young being then born when at a 

 length of one-sixth to one-fourth of an inch, and 

 each commonly rolled up in a coil. Only by the 

 closest observation is one able to see that the eggs 

 are hatched before the resulting fry are freed to 

 shift for themselves in the sea. 



Of the kelp fishes there are twenty-five species. 

 These are chiefly confined to the beds of kelp, 

 which are a special feature of the California coast, 

 nothing like it existing on the Atlantic side of North 

 America. Some of these fishes feed upon the sea- 

 weeds themselves, more upon the molluscs and 

 crabs which find their home among the marine 

 plants. Like the rock fishes, the kelp fishes are 

 usually taken by the baited hook from the deck 

 of a boat. 



Fishes to the number of 145 species frequent 

 by preference waters with a smooth or sandy bot- 

 tom. Some of these swim near the surface m the 

 open water, often entering the bays in large shoals; 

 others, as the flounders, lie on the bottom and in 



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