INCIDENTS IN TUNA FISHING 69 



claim that these albacores are very powerful. A Mr. Cesana 

 has found one of them near shore, and not being able to land 

 it with his dugout he induced a neighbor, a Mr. Green, to hitch 

 his horse to the harpoon hne. Mr. Cesaiia says the albacore 

 pulled the horse into the water, when ' the line was broken 

 and the fish got away.' " 



As to the spawning season of the tuna but little is 

 known. I have never seen a leaping tuna under 

 seventy or eighty pounds; I have heard of several as 

 small as five pounds being caught, but this is rare. 

 The spawn is doubtless deposited in August or Sep- 

 tember, on the surface. The young in a short time 

 take to deeper water and form in schools somewhere. 

 Usually the schools of adults have been followed in 

 or about the bay at Long Point, but in 1909 the big 

 school lay ofif the southeast of Santa Catalina about 

 five miles, where most of the catches were made. I 

 saw them at San Clemente where they were widely 

 distributed and charging the flying-fishes down the 

 coast, covering miles of water. At Santa Catalina 

 in 1909 the school appeared to move inshore at night 

 or toward night, and go off again during the day. 

 They could be easily located on the surface by the 

 ripple. Many attempts have been made to take 

 them with rod and reel at Santa Cruz and Anacapa 

 Islands, but so far without avail. 



The tuna is a gregarious feeder. The flying-fish of 

 California, a fish eighteen inches long and weighing a 

 pound and a half, is the honne bouche of its choice, 

 and up to August it appears to feed upon this fish 

 entirely. Specimens examined later were found to be 

 feeding on small squids. A fisherman told me that 

 in the Atlantic they came around his boat and fed on 



