FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 85 



quarters of a ton, all of which shows that the fish has 

 a wide range. As to the economic value of the sunfish 

 little is known. I should imagine its rough skin was 

 of some value; its flesh is used by farmers in Maine 

 as a fertilizer. I have seen boys use the white 

 muscular tissue as India rubber for balls. The flesh is 

 insipid and uneatable. 



MORAY 



There is a large snake-like fish, the moray, Fig. 40, 

 in these waters, that occasionally fouls the hook of the 

 bottom angler and makes a prodigious fight ; a savage, 

 dangerous creature with teeth like a snake, and a 

 habit of coiling like a rattlesnake and striking out 

 when hauled in. 



With the morays, in rocky places, the angler will 

 find the puff shark, coiled up in the rocks, the Port 

 Jackson shark, Fig. 41, with ivory spines in front of 

 each ray, and various sculpins, big and little, of value 

 to the marketman, but not to the angler. 



FLAT FISHES 



A variety of flat fishes or rays are found on the 

 sandy bottoms of California waters. The sting ray, 

 with a sharp, rat-like tail, and others more 

 or less dangerous to the bather, all with remarkable 

 strength on a light rod. One of the largest is the 

 angel fish, a seeming cross between a ray and a shark ; 

 a fish six or eight feet long, which will swallow a bait 

 and evidently go to sleep. 



The most interesting of all these fishes is the elec- 



