THE OCEAN FISHING ROD 327 



Of TUNNIES there are two varieties, the short-firmed (Orcynus 

 thynnus], which is most common, and the long-finned tunny, 

 or albicore (Orcynus germo). Old writers record, or invent, 

 tunnies of enormous weight. Aristotle wrote of one weighing 

 1,200 Ibs., and, according to Belonius, one was caught off Spain 

 in 1665 which measured thirty-two feet in length, and was 

 sixteen feet in girth. Sometimes tunnies are captured in the 

 Cornish pilchard and mackerel drift nets, but there is no 

 regular fishery for them that I am aware of on the British 

 coasts. The Spanish tunny fisheries, on the other hand, are 

 of great importance, and have been carried on for many years, 

 the practice having been introduced, it is said, by the Phoe- 

 nicians. As in the time of ^Elian, watchmen in some lofty 

 position on the coast give warning of the advent of the shoals, 

 when the boats put to sea, and the fish are surrounded by 

 nets. There are also a large number of tunnies caught in 

 the Black Sea, as the shoals pass the Bosphorus. The 

 Romans used to consider the fish caught off Spain and Sardinia 

 superior as food to those brought from Constantinople. 



These fish are very widely distributed. They have been 

 caught off the Scotch coasts and also near Ireland. One 

 8 ft. 3 in. long, weighing about 300 Ibs., was brought into 

 Dublin in the year 1841. Pennant mentions one of 460 Ibs. 

 caught off Inverary in 1769. At the beginning of the century 

 three were caught off Margate. In 1840 they are said to 

 have been plentiful off the Cornish coast, and a shoal visited 

 the Moray Firth in 1850, one which was caught measuring 

 nine feet in length. Day states that off Sardinia tunnies fre- 

 quently attain a weight of 1,000 Ibs., and Cetti asserts that 

 they run to 1,800 Ibs. 



ALBICORE, or LONG-FINNED TUNNY so called because the 

 pectoral fin is one-third, or thereabouts, the length of its body 

 are found in the Bay of Biscay later in the year than the 



