On the Trail of a Moonfish 93 



ment, as I saw a yellowtail swim up to it, then 

 dash away, as though it had seen some hideous 

 vision. 



The fish is normally a French gray in color, 

 but this ancient individual was splashed with 

 growths of membranipora, which had died and 

 bleached white, the fish thus appearing spotted. 

 Just over the small mouth was a ball of flesh as 

 large as a child's head, which gave the fish a 

 singular expression. It swam entirely by its big 

 dorsal and ventral fins, which were waved like 

 the blades of a propeller a method of propulsion 

 at once extraordinary and seemingly impossible ; 

 yet they performed all the work, the two small 

 side fins being mere balancers. 



The fish sailed along in a stately fashion, its 

 staring black eyes watching us. Suddenly it 

 came to the surface, thrust its mouth above it, 

 and gradually fell over on its side, presenting 

 the broad surface to the sun. It swam slowly 

 in this position for ten minutes, then assumed 

 a vertical pose. The last view we had of the 

 big fish it was sliding down into the deep sea. 



Very little is known about the peculiar tribe 

 of Molas except that they live on the high seas 

 offshore. The young are very unlike the adults 

 in appearance, and, at least at Avalon, are never 

 seen, a fish smaller than ten pounds having never 

 been observed. But this is not a peculiarity of 

 the moonfish ; the young of all fishes are difficult 



