358 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



and dry on some of the flats. The Indians slaughter large num- 

 bers along Shoalwater Bay and Gray's Harbor, where they crowd 

 in immense throngs. When started, this fish will dive right into 

 a mud bank, stir it up, and escape under this cloak of concealment. 

 There are a number of other varieties, namely Platessa bilineatus, 

 Platichthys rugosus ; P. umbrosus ; Paralichthys maculosus, or 

 spotted flounders, and many others. 



The Halibut, {Hippoglossus vtdgaris), ranges from Oregon 

 to the Aleutian Isles, and up to the ice line of Behring Sea, and 

 westward to the Ochotsk. The specimens caught weigh from 

 one to four hundred pounds, and some are said to exceed even the 

 latter weight. The Russians paid a slight attention to this fish 

 formerly, but they do nothing with it at present, if we exclude the 

 few caught for the table. The Alaska variety is deemed superior 

 to its eastern kindred in firmness and delicacy of flesh, and as will 

 be seen excels it also in ponderosity. 



LABRID^. 



Sea Bass. — Labrus Quicker . Ayres. 



This fish is nearly as silvery as the salmon, which it much re- 

 sembles. At Fort Point, near the Golden Gate, where I sometimes 

 fish, there is a large sea wall, at the end of which the rolling waves 

 from the Pacific break with great force. In the eddy formed by 

 these billows, the bottom of which is very rocky, these fish are 

 often caught in company with the sea trout. They are also taken 

 by trolling just outside of the kelp. 



SALMONID^. 



Of the Salmon of the Pacific coast. Doctor Suckley has given in- 

 his monograph a list of no less than twenty-two anadromous spe- 

 cies — that is, species running up from the salt water to spawn ; 

 the young remaining there for a greater or less time, then return- 

 ing to the sea, in which they abide, except during the period of 

 reproduction. Of these twenty-two, however, six feed freely in 

 fresh water, and can hardly be called marine species. The remain- 

 ing sixteen are enumerated as follows : 



Salmo scouleri. Hook-nosed salmon ; fall salmon. 



