12 Big Game Fishes 



regions are adapted by nature to the peculiar 

 conditions. The pressure where they live is 

 sufficient to powder glass; at the surface it is 

 fifteen pounds per square inch, but increases 

 rapidly, so that at a mile below the surface it 

 is almost beyond comprehension. 



To overcome this the skeleton of deep-sea 

 forms is cavernous, porous, and the water ap- 

 pears to circulate through them as through a 

 sponge, and although fierce and carnivorous 

 creatures, they are so fragile out of water that 

 when taken from the nets they almost drop in 

 pieces. The most remarkable feature of these 

 fishes and many surface forms is their phos- 

 phorescence, many having illuminating organs 

 torches of one or more colors, which con- 

 stitute a part of the illumination of the deep sea, 

 and serve possibly as a signal language by 

 which the sexes are attracted, or predaceous 

 forms lure their prey. I have seen a tuna come 

 up at night, having a train of light several feet 

 in length, but this was due to the luminous ani- 

 mals in the water the peridinium, salpa, and 

 others. 



The game fishes available to the rod fisher- 

 man constitute a small proportion of the fishes, 



