ivo Distribution and migration 



As has already been stated^, the fishes of this family are 

 widely distributed in the open seas^ and they generally inhabit 

 warm waters. Many species have been reported from all of the 

 oceans of the world, and it is thought that among them there 

 are quite a few which are the same species under different 

 nameso As a result of recent studies it is thought by some 

 that the species in Japanese waters are the same as those which 

 occur in the Indian Ocean and the AtlantiCo 



The albacore shows an extraordinarily broad range, 

 occurring throughout all of the warm waters of the Pacific and 

 Indian oceanso It is a markedly pelagic species and has not 

 yet been reported from the Japan Seao Nor is it plentiful in 

 the South China, Sulu, Celebes^, and Flores seaSj, a series of 

 waters having the characteristics of enclosed basins. The 

 northern limit of their distribution in Japanese waters is in 

 the vicinity of 43° No Around late autumn they gradually migrate 

 to the southwest, and in the winter they are plentiful between 

 30° and 34° Nc , the fishery being active in the waters of the 

 Izu Isc, the Kinan Sea Areaj and off Tosa, The most notable of 

 the fishing grounds is that east of Nojimazaki in the area 

 centered around 30° No and east of 150° Eo In spring the 

 albacore begin their migration to the north, and it is said that 

 this migration follows that of the black tuna and precedes that 

 of the skipjacko 



Among the various sea areas of the souths in the South 

 China Sea the fish appear around February ~ March, but their 

 distribution is mostly limited to the vicinity of the Bashi 

 Straito Almost nothing is known as yet of their distribution 

 and migrations in such areas as the Sulu, Celebes p and Flores 

 seaso In the former Japanese mandated area, that is the 

 equatorial central Pacific p the albacore taken on the yellow- 

 fin longlines are about 1 percent of the total catch (tunas 

 and spearfishes onlyX 



The black tuna is the most common tuna in the waters 

 adjacent to Japano During the winter they are taken scattered 

 generally over the area in the vicinity of 30° No As a fishing 

 ground the vicinity of Tanegashima has been noted in the past, 

 but lately it has become almost impossible to find the fish 

 theroo In the past they began to appear sporadically around 

 Tanegashima about December and the schools gradually became 

 denser as the days passed, the peak season in these waters 

 lasting until about Februaryc Thereafter the fish gradually 

 moved north with the Kuroshio, a part of them going along the 

 Tsushima Current into the Japan Sea, traveling for the most 

 part through the coastal waters of Japano When the power of 

 the warm currents was great, the fish sometimes passed through 

 the coastal w aters of Hokkaido and reached the western shores 

 of KarafutOo 



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