2o6 Big Game Fishes 



its actual weight; the tail is strongly forked, 

 keeled, and here are the finlets of the tuna, seven 

 or eight in number. Trim the side fins, and the 

 average observer not skilled in fish lore would 

 announce it a tuna ; but these remarkable fins dis- 

 tinguish it from all other fishes. Each pectoral fin 

 is nearly half the length of the entire body, or to 

 be exact, two-fifths its length, shaped like daggers, 

 with a slight curve downward; the fins are very 

 narrow and in every instance observed by me 

 were held close to the sides of the fish when 

 swimming, the real locomotive organ being the 

 tail, a " screw " of tremendous power. Doubtless 

 the long pectorals have more to do with the re- 

 markable agility of the fish than is suspected. In 

 its coloring the albacore is very attractive, garbed 

 in resplendent tints. Its back is a vivid steely 

 blue, and being broad and rotund it is a conspicu- 

 ous object in the water. The belly is white, or 

 silvery, the fins dark, gleaming with a blue irides- 

 cence or lustre. 



Such is the catch, the albacore, the Germo 

 alalunga (Gmelin) of science, the most active 

 of all its congeners. It is one of the commonest 

 fishes in the Pacific waters, found in nearly all 

 tropical seas, but not caught on the Atlantic 



