86 FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



trie ray or torpedo. It may be recognized by its round 

 or oval shape. Men have been knocked down by the 

 shocks they give out. I once took a small one from 

 the tank in the Naples aquarium and, by placing one 

 hand beneath it, the other on its back, received a shock 

 which jerked my arm back violently. Needless to say, 

 the torpedo is not a quest of anglers. 



THE WHITE SEA BASS 

 (Cynoscion nobilis) 



Sometimes in May, earlier or later according to the 

 season and the weather, the voyager in the glass-bot- 

 tom boat at Avalon, in peering down into the beauti- 

 ful kelp beds, will see, poising in the arches and cav- 

 erns of the submarine forests, scores of big fishes re- 

 sembling the salmon. They may be three or four 

 feet long and weigh forty or fifty pounds. In appear- 

 ance they are attractive, well shaped; a gray color 

 above, iridescent in the sunlight, silvery below, ideal 

 fishes for the rod and reel. This is a giant weakfish, 

 a cousin of the Eastern weakfish, known in Southern 

 California, particularly at Santa Catalina and San 

 Clemente Islands, as the white sea bass, one of the 

 finest game fishes of the region. It comes from some- 

 where in April, and remains late into the summer. It 

 is seen in well-distributed schools up the coast for 

 miles at times; in Avalon Bay I have taken five or 

 six in a forenoon, none of which were under fifty 

 pounds in weight. This bass will take a spoon, a 

 sardine in trolling, and is often taken still-fishing 

 near shore with live bait. 



The tackle to use is a nine-ounce rod, and a number 



