144 Big Game Fishes 



rush, its heart still strong, the cruel gaff slips 

 beneath it, is jerked into the silver throat, and 

 the struggling fish lifted in. Such a moment is 

 an epoch in some men's lives. Thirty-five pounds 

 is the gaffer's report, and the fish he holds up to 

 the admiring angler for inspection is a magnifi- 

 cent specimen, the type of a game fish, nearly 

 four feet in length, well proportioned, with lines 

 like those of a privateer, a large head, yet not too 

 large for the body, a radiant a"nd large eye. 

 Along its back is a long dorsal fin ; the tail is 

 forked, powerful, and a vivid yellow which is 

 carried out in a stripe along the median line. 

 The upper body color is an olive-brown in the 

 water, changing in the sunlight to the most 

 brilliant blue iridescence, the belly silver. Such 

 is the general appearance of this prince of game 

 fishes that dominates the quiet seas along the 

 isles of summer. 



Like other popular fishes the yellowtail re- 

 joices in a number of names, among which is the 

 white salmon, a sad misnomer, the amber-fish, 

 which has some significance, and cavasina, while 

 its generic name, Seriola, is euphonious. Its 

 nearest relative is the little pilot-fish, Naucrates, 

 which bears a strong resemblance to the young 



