310 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



this, you note that it hangs in the water just Hke a 

 leaf, head up or down, so that a novice would never 

 see it unless his attention were called to it by the 

 attentive skipper. 



Drifting along, the passenger in the glass-bottomed 

 boat often sees the large pelagic fishes, as the yellow- 

 tail, white sea bass, or the giant black sea bass, which 

 weighs four hundred pounds and lives in the kelp 

 beds of the Channel Islands. Sharks are also some- 

 times seen, and on the bottom, coiled up in some snug 

 harbor between the rocks, may be seen a very inter- 

 esting shark called the Catalina Port Jackson shark. 

 It is about two feet long, with a spine before each 

 dorsal fin. It is sluggish and feeds on crabs at night, 

 and lays a peculiar corkscrew-like egg. For years this 

 shark was supposed to be extinct and known only by 

 its fossil spines; but some one went to Port Jackson, 

 Australia, and found them alive; then a species was 

 discovered on the California coast. It is one of the 

 common catches in traps at the islands, and its curious 

 eggs are sold as curiosities and are hatched in the 

 aquarium. 



On the bottom we see rock-like objects which prove 

 to be sculpins, so mimicking the rocks and stones that 

 at times it is impossible to distinguish them, as they 

 are covered with curious barbels, which look like 

 weeds, and are black, red, yellow, and white, perfect 

 imitations of the rocks on which they lie, ready to 

 take any kind of a lure. If a panorama had been 

 arranged it would not appear more artificial, as at 

 every move of the glass-bottomed boat something new 

 is seen through the window, as if prearranged. The 

 scenery changes every moment, and there is a slight 



