The Apaches of the Sea 195 



Minnows and chubs are feeble folk, scorned by the 

 angler and devoured by all other fishes. But all rules fail 

 in California, and the chubs in our rivers reach a mighty 

 size. The one called squawfish has the long slim body and 

 slim jaws of a pike ; although like other minnows, it is large 

 enough to be greedy and to take the hook with spirit. In 

 the Sacramento the common species reaches a length of 

 three feet, and the fishermen often sell them as '' Sacra- 

 mento pike." In the Columbia is another species, the 

 Oregon squawfish. As the name squawfish is applied to 

 nothing else, it is the best name to use for these giants of 

 the minnow tribe. Like other minnows, the squawfish has 

 smooth scales, soft white flesh, and a pair of jaws in its 

 throat behind the gills. These are called pharyngeals, and 

 each is armed with two rows of long sharp hooked teeth. 

 In the first row are five large teeth; in the second, two 

 smaller ones, each shaped like a plow cutter. The 

 flesh is watery, without much flavor, and is full of small 

 bones. 



In the Colorado River is a still larger species of squaw- 

 fish, called at Yuma the '' Colorado salmon." It is no 

 salmon, of course, but grows to be quite as large, sometimes 

 reaching five or six feet in length. It is the best fish in the 

 river, for all the rest, hard-heads, razor-backs, split tails, 

 etc., are very dry and bony. 



The squawfish is found in the deep places of the river 

 through the Grand Canon of the Colorado. 



The storm-fishes are little fragile fishes, jet-black in color, 

 who live in the depths of the sea, carrying their own lan- 

 terns to see their way about. They swim in the open oceans, 

 often in schools, going down deep in quiet weather, keeping 

 away from the light, but coming to the surface in the night 

 or during storms. In stormy nights they often rise to the 

 crest of the waves, and are then sometimes blown on the 

 decks of ships. 



But in quiet days one would look in vain for them any- 



