WHITING AND CROAKERS 



There are three other species of fish which inhabit 

 the surf of the Pacific from Point Conception, south to 

 Mexico, that, while they can not be properly termed 

 game fishes, furnish the angler fine sport because of 

 the gamy fight they make on light tackle. These are 

 the whiting (Menticirrhus undulatus), the spot-fin croak- 

 er (Roncador stearnsi) and the yellow-fin croaker (Um- 

 brina roncador). The first of these is known locally by 

 the names of courbina and surf-fish, which are bad 

 misnomers. The name, surf-fish, is given by the ichthy- 

 ologist to a species of perch, and the courbina belongs 

 to the genus Pogonias and is not found as far north as 

 the California coast. These names should be abandoned 

 by the anglers and the proper English name of whiting 

 used. The word courbina is Italian and means croaker, 

 from the Latin, corvus, crow. 



THE WHITE SEA BASS 



(Cygonoscion nobilis) 



The white sea bass is purely a California species, 

 ranging from the Coronado Islands to about the latitude 

 of San Francisco. They are caught trolling and make a 

 gamy fight on rod and reel. Twenty to forty pound 

 fish are common and they have been caught weighing 

 seventy-five pounds. 



Light bluish on the back and white on the sides, 

 with many small specks; dark spot at the base of the 

 pectoral fins. Head, long, with pointed snout, and with 

 the scales of the head running nearly to its end. Dorsal 

 fin double, the first half having ten spines and the lat- 

 ter twenty-one or twenty-two soft rays. Anal with two 

 spines and nine rays. Tail but little forked. 

 Tackle The same as for salmon or yellow-tail. 

 CALIFORNIA WHITING OR 



SAND-SUCKER 

 (Menticirrhus undulatus) 



This species is common to the sand beaches of the 

 Pacific, from Point Conception south to Guaymas, Mex- 

 ico. It feeds during the larger part of the year in the 

 surf, and is caught from the wharfs or by long casts 

 with heavy sinkers from the beach. The whiting ap- 

 pears on the California coast in two varieties, the un- 

 dulatus proper and a subspecies which I think has never 

 been classified. At any rate, the difference seems suffi- 

 cient to entitle it to a subspecie classification, for the 

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