The Albacore 207 



coast and rarely seen. In the Mediterranean 

 Sea it is a familiar catch in nets. Germon is its 

 French title, but the common name, albacore, was 

 given it by the Portuguese, who undoubtedly took 

 it from the Arabic al, a; bacora, little pig. The 

 specific name, alalunga, by which it is known in 

 Sardinia, means "long-winged." Many authori- 

 ties give the maximum weight of the albacore as 

 twelve or fifteen pounds, which is far too low. 

 I have measured an individual which weighed 

 sixty-two and a half pounds, and have been in- 

 formed by reliable fishermen that they have taken 

 albacores in the deep San Clemente channel, ten 

 miles west of Santa Catalina, which weighed one 

 hundred pounds; but these large fishes rarely 

 come inshore. The one first referred to was 

 caught by an acquaintance, not fifty feet from the 

 rocks, and for three hours it fought, towing the 

 boat during that period an estimated five miles, 

 often against the oars of the boatman, and mak- 

 ing such strenuous resistance that it was consid- 

 ered a tuna until the long sabrelike fins of the 

 fish told the story. No tuna could have made a 

 better struggle than this long-finned, big-eyed 

 wanderer of the family Scombridce. 



On the Pacific coast the albacore spawns in 



