On the Trail of a Moonfish 89 



that it was kept in place, a performance, 

 during a mile or so, which can only be com- 

 pared to leading a bull by a rope where the 

 bull has a strong aversion to the leader and 

 a strong desire to go in the opposite direc- 

 tion. 



In an hour, possibly less, the two boats towed 

 the fish to the Tuna Club dock and we made it 

 fast to the float, where several hundred people 

 had an opportunity to see it alive and unhurt, 

 as we were careful not to injure it. Here the 

 fish appeared to accept the inevitable, and I suc- 

 ceeded in accompanying a long-wished-for de- 

 sideratum, one, in all probability, never enjoyed 

 by any one, an opportunity to see a big moon- 

 fish swim, a performance witnessed by a crowd 

 armed with kodaks of all degrees and conditions, 

 and it was photographed in various positions 

 by the wonder-eyed tourists, not one in a hun- 

 dred of whom doubtless had ever heard of a 

 moonfish. 



A better name than moonfish would be " head- 

 fish," as it is all head, at least to the layman, 

 and might have been conjured up by some weird 

 imagination for a grotesque display of the pos- 

 sibilities; a fish made by the mile and cut off 

 to suit the customer, as it is a great oval, with 

 big staring eyes where they should be; two ab- 

 surd little fins where fins belong, and where the 

 long graceful tail of other fishes is, literally 



