CHAPTER XIV 



THE LONG-FINNED TUNA 



WHILE some fishes are around the Channel 

 Islands a few months, more or less, the 

 long-finned tuna {Tliunnus alalonga) may 

 be expected almost any week in the year; and of all 

 the fishes of these notable grounds it affords the tourist 

 or stranger the greatest sport, as it is one of the hardest 

 fighters in any sea. 



Nearly all waters have the albacore. In the mouth 

 of the St. Lawrence and in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of 

 California) the leaping tuna is known as the albacore, 

 but the real "little pig," as the people of the Orient 

 call the albacore, is a very different fish, as can be 

 seen by comparing it with the others on the plate facing 

 page 53. The true albacore somewhat resembles the 

 leaping tuna, but has extraordinary sabre-like wings 

 nearly as long as itself; not wing-like, as in the real 

 flying-fish, but long, slender, sword-like fins, which 

 apparently are held stifl at an angle when the fish 

 swims, and serve seemingly as balancers. 



I believe no fish in these waters will so impress the 

 stranger; not only for their vast numbers, but for 

 their extraordinary tameness. In their habits they 

 resemble the bonito and other tunas, being oceanic 

 or pelagic forms rarely found inshore, though one of 

 the largest I ever saw, a sixty-three-pounder, taken 

 upon a rod, was hooked within a few yards of the 



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