Chapter XXV 



The Tribe of Seriola 



THE angler who has fished in Florida from Palm 

 Beach to the Gulf has an especial pride in 

 his amber-jacks one of the gamiest fishes of 

 the Gulf Stream, running up to eighty or more pounds, 

 clad in splendid vestments of colour, silver, gold, or am- 

 ber ; a type of matchless cunning and strength. On 

 coming to the Pacific slope, or to Southern California, 

 he finds a cousin of this fish ; not so thick-set, longer 

 and a little more slender, but a near kinsman of the 

 royal family, a Seriola, known here as the amber-fish, 

 and by many other titles best known, perhaps, as yel- 

 lowtail. It ranges from ten or fifteen pounds up to 

 thirty or forty, and doubtless reaches one hundred 

 pounds in its old age and best condition. 



The amber-fish call him what you will comes from 

 some mysterious realm offshore in March or April, in- 

 creasing in numbers, as time goes on, until June, when 

 he often throngs the Santa Catalina Channel and 

 abounds in such numbers that the great schools fairly 



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