no ALBACORA 



sexes add luster to their natural color. I doubt if any 

 fisherman who has trolled the Gulf Stream will ever 

 forget his first sight of a dolphin, glistening in brilliant 

 gold and blue. Nor is a fisherman likely to forget what 

 transpires after the dolphin has been caught. Out of the 

 water the brilliant color fades, and the dying fish turns 

 milk-white, fading into gray at death. When the dolphin 

 dies, the fading of beauty is almost a tragic thing. It is 

 as if nature were making a point about leaving her 

 dolphin alone, and no fisherman who catches one can 

 avoid feeling at least some touches of regret. From 

 scientists I learned of the countless misconceptions I had 

 held, but the beauty of fish was something none of them 

 had to teach me. 



Billfish have all the senses of a man. They breathe 

 through gills, see with eyes, smell through nostrils and 

 feel with a central nervous system. They can even hear. 

 But there is something else a billfish possesses, which 

 fishermen sense and scientists are learning more about 

 every day. This is a sixth sense, which is called lateral 

 line. It is apparently a means of compensating for the 

 fish's lack of long-range vision, an attribute which it 

 could not possibly possess in the sea. Still, without dis- 

 tance vision, fish can tell the approach of enemies from 

 far off. They can distinguish an unusual area of water, 

 such as the Humboldt Current, from all the rest of the 

 Pacific Ocean. When I asked Rivas about this specific 

 point — the ability of fish to find the Humboldt — he be- 

 gan to explain about lateral line. 



