202 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



landed by Ihc purse seine boats. But that 

 even th's leaves a certain error is un- 

 deniable, numbers of blue-fin tuna being 

 brought in. 



This is, incidentally, the first year in 

 which these large yellow-fin tuna have 

 been taken in this quantity in these 

 waters. Last year the yellow-fin tuna 

 taken were small, always under 30 pounds, 

 while this year 75-pound fish (cleaned) 

 were not rare, and one of them weighed 

 175 pounds cleaned, and was 65 'nches in 

 length. In fact, the blue-fin, or leaping, 

 tuna did not exceed the size of these fish. 

 It was not to be wondered at that these 

 large, magnificent fish were at once called 

 leaping tuna, traditionally the largest of 

 our species. 



However, the writer has satisfied him- 

 self by careful examination of a consider- 

 able series of fish that confusion need 

 arise but very rarely between the species. 

 Careful measurements have been taken of 

 the body and fin proportions and com- 

 pared according to standard methods used 

 by ichthyologists in distinguishing species, 

 but the more obvious characteristics may 

 be reviewed here for the use of those who 

 wish them, in view of the need for 

 accuracy in statistics. 



Color. The high fins above and below 

 the fish (dorsal and anal fins) are usually 

 tinged with yellow in the yellow-fin tuna, 

 while they are as a rule dark in the blue- 

 fin. The small finlets behind these are 

 usually a brighter yellow in the yellow- 

 fin. 



The lower side of the body in both 

 species bears characteristic markings, 

 especially in the young. In the yellow-fin 

 the marks tend to arrange themselves in 

 alternate narrow transverse lines and 

 rows of spots, and are smaller than those 

 of the blue-fin, in which the spots are 

 generally in transverse rows without in- 

 tervening lines. In both species these 

 spots become lengthened toward the tail. 

 When freshly caught the yellow-fin, the 

 young especially, has a strong lemon 

 yellow tinge over most of the body, which 

 is lacking in the blue-fin. 



Pectoral fin. The length of the long 

 side fin is the most obvious and reliable 

 character by which the species can be dis- 

 tinguished, but very rarely a yellow-fin 

 is found with a short fin. In the yellow- 

 fin this side fin is almost always slightly 



shorter than the head, measured from the 

 tip of the snout, and is not less than fivo- 

 sixths of its length. In the blue-fin, this 

 side fin is always less than two-thirds of 

 the head length, and usually but three- 

 fifths. 



Head. The yellow-fin tuna has, as a 

 rule, but not invariably, a shorter head 

 than the blue-fin has. 



Trunk of ihe bodij. The yellow-fin has 

 a very noticeably shorter trunk than the 

 blue-fin, if the "trunk" is considered the 

 length before the two fins situated above 

 and below the body. This holds only 

 when fish of a size are compared and very 

 large fish are likely to be hard to distin- 

 guish. The posterior part of the body 

 where the finlets are is nevertheless more 

 drawn out in the yellow-fin in comparison 

 with the rest of the fish. Up to a certain 

 length the fish seems to grow faster pos- 

 teriorly, the young yellow-fin of 25 inches 

 in length being similar in this charac- 

 teristic to blue-fin of 45 inches. 



Height of fins. The height of the two 

 fins, one above and one below the body 

 (dorsal and anal), differ markedly in the 

 two species, but only when specimens of 

 a size are compared. Yellow-fin tuna 

 have higher fins (or longer, according to 

 the way they are considerea) but a yellow- 

 fin of 30 inches in length has fins about 

 as long in proportion as a blue-fin of 45 

 or 50 inches, although those of a 45-inch 

 yellow-fin exceed the length of those of 

 the blue-fin by a fourth of their length. 



The eye. The eyes in the blue-fin tuna 

 are actually nearly equal to those in 

 yellow-fins of the same size, but because 

 of the larger head in the blue-fin, they 

 appear much smaller. The diameter of 

 the eye in the blue-fin averages 3.2 per 

 cent of the length of the body, and is 

 about one-ninth of the head length, 

 whereas that of the yellow-fin is 3.2 per 

 cent of the body length, but about one 

 eighth of the head length. — W. F. T. 



THE OCCURRENCE OF THE LOUVAR. 



On August 6, a large fish was brought 

 into the canneries at Fish Harbor, San 

 Pedro, from the west end of Catalina 

 Island, and excited much comment as a 

 probable hybrid between a pompano and 

 a yellowtail. This proved far from the 

 truth, however, the specimen in reality 

 being a member of the "wide-ranging" 



