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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



CHARACTERISTIC POSE OF AN OCEAN SUN-FISH 



for it appears at the surface of the ocean 

 on bright days and spends many hours 

 basking listlessly in the sun, sometimes 

 lying flat with one side just out of the 

 water, sometimes with the back fin pro- 

 jecting like a buoy above the surface. 

 It is disk-shaped, its height nearly equal- 

 ing its length, and it has a long, narrow 

 fin on its upper and lower edges poste- 

 riorly, and a short, broad flap represent- 

 ing the caudal fin ; its eyes are large and 

 its mouth small, and taken altogether it 

 is one of the most grotesque of fishes, 

 being apparently all head. Of almost 

 world-wide distribution, it is particularly 

 abundant on the southeastern coast of 

 the United States and on the California 

 coast. It swims but little, being usually 

 content to be drifted along by the ocean 

 currents. The Gulf Stream wafts many 

 a sun-fish northward each summer, so 

 that the species is not a rarity off south- 

 ern New England, and I have seen a 

 number of specimens that had become 

 stranded on the coast of Norway. The 



fish is entirely harmless, and is so 

 sluggish and listless, and is such a con- 

 spicuous object at sea, that it is easily 

 approached and harpooned. 



That the sun-fish deserves a place in 

 the list of giant fishes may be judged 

 from the fact that examples weighing 

 200 to 500 pounds are not rare, and that 

 much larger ones are occasionally met 

 with. The largest known specimen, har- 

 pooned in 1893 at Redondo Beach, Cali- 

 fornia, weighed 1,800 pounds. On such 

 a monster, lying on one side, there would 

 be room for 30 men to stand. The 

 strong teeth, shaped like a turtle's beak, 

 suggest that hard-shelled animals consti- 

 tute its food, but as far as known jelly- 

 fish are its chief diet. The extremely 

 tough, fibrous skin, several inches thick, 

 and the general coarseness of structure 

 seem inconsistent with such delicate food. 



TUNNIES AND JEW-FISHES 



The valuable mackerel family has one 

 member which easily ranks first in size 



