154 



Life 



Figure 1 34. Flying fish, Cypselurus californicus (Cooper). 



about equal to ten times the length of their 

 bodies, although cruising speeds are much 

 less. A 4-foot 20-pound barracuda was 

 clocked at 27 miles per hour in the ocean, 

 establishing it as the fastest known fish. 

 Because of their size, speed, and sharp teeth 

 sharks are much feared here as elsewhere, 

 but there have been few authenticated in- 

 stances of attacks. One instance was on 

 October 10, 1950, when a shark seriously 

 injured a swimmer at Imperial Beach near 

 San Diego; another, on December 7, 1952, 

 killed a swimmer at Monterey in central 

 California by repeated biting attacks while 

 ignoring five would-be rescuers carrying the 

 victim to shore (Bolin, 1954); on February 

 6, 1955, near the same site in Monterey 

 a swimmer was attacked but only scratched 

 by a shark which bit into the swim-fins and 

 tore one away (Fast, 1955). More recently, 

 on October 12, 1958, a swimmer at Coro- 

 nado (near San Diego) was seriously bitten 

 by a shark, in May 1959 another was man- 

 gled and killed 50 yards from shore near the 

 Golden Gate at San Francisco, and on June 

 14, 1959, another was gripped around the 

 chest and killed by a 20-foot shark only 40 

 yards from a big Sunday afternoon crowd at 

 La Jolla Cove (press releases). In the two 

 attacks at Monterey the shark was the noto- 

 rious tropical man-eater, Carcharodon car- 

 charias. According to Captain J. F. Steven- 

 son, Chief Life Guard, Los Angeles County, 

 no instances of shark attacks in the Los 

 Angeles region are known. Although at- 

 tacks are very rare in southern California as 



compared to Australia and the West Indies 

 (Llano, 1957), they are of considerable con- 

 cern to the swimmers in the area. 



In addition to the occasional presence of 

 tropical fishes off California, distant migra- 

 tion of pelagic fishes is shown by tagging 

 experiments conducted by the California 

 Department of Fish and Game. For ex- 

 ample, one of 215 albacore tagged near Los 

 Angeles during August 1952 was caught less 

 than a year later off" Japan, having traveled 

 a net distance of more than 23 km day 

 (Ganssle and Clemens, 1953). 



As a result of the differences in habitats 

 and behavior of the various kinds of com- 

 mercial fishes, several different types of fish- 

 ing gear are used. Bottom fishes in flat 

 sandy areas are caught mostly by trammel 

 nets (a coarse-mesh net sandwiched be- 

 tween two fine-mesh nets), but near Santa 

 Barbara they are taken by trawls (nets 

 dragged over the bottom). Such nets can- 

 not be used over very rough rocky areas, 

 and there the chief method is by baited 

 hooks and set lines, although since about 

 1948 spearfishing by sportsmen using self- 

 contained underwater breathing apparatus 

 has resulted in a great increase of catch. 

 The pelagic fishes, bluefin tuna, sardine, 

 and mackerel, are mostly caught by purse 

 seines. Yellowfin tuna and skipjack are 

 generally concentrated by chumming the 

 water with live bait and then fished with a 

 barbless hook and a short pole. Salmon 

 and albacore are taken mostly by trolling 

 behind a slowly moving boat, and swordfish 

 are taken by harpooning. Among the ad- 

 ditional fishing equipment are gill nets used 

 chiefly for barracuda and white sea bass. 



Occasional fish scales , otoliths, and bones 

 are found in dredgings of the basin floors. 

 According to David (1944, 1947), these ma- 

 terials are from several kinds of fishes which 

 are related to ones found in fossil form in 

 Pliocene and Late Miocene strata of Cali- 

 fornia (Fig. 135), supporting the conclusion 

 from foraminiferans and moUusks that the 

 climate of those times was warmer but not 

 greatly different from the present one 

 (Jordan and Gilbert, 1919; David, 1943). 

 However, comparison of present fish faunas 



