FISHERIES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
27 
succession of days of exceptionally fine weather. On March 1, 1890, two were taken. 
On March 26, 1889, a few were caught, and on the following day they were abundant, 
and remained so, with occasional lapses, throughout the summer. At the beginning 
of July they were with ripe spawn. 
During September few were taken, but on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of October they 
were again abundant. On November 6 one was taken, on the 7th another, on the 
15th one young one w r as caught with a hook in the bay, and o» the 18th another 
young one was brought from off Point Loma. On the 16th of December one young 
individual, evidently of the preceding summer’s spawn, was taken in the bay, and on 
the 30tl\ a large one was caught off Point Loma. 
The adults never or very rarely enter the bay, but in the spring the young, those 
not yet a year old and measuring about a foot in length, enter the bay in large 
schools, and are then destroyed in quantities with seines or Chinese bag-nets. 
About San Diego the troll is the only means used in catching them. It is simply a 
piece of white rag, or more commonly a fragment of bone, to which a hook is lashed. 
One or more of these is dragged behind a boat made usually after the pattern of the 
Columbia River salmon boat. The amount of the catch depends largely on the wind. 
A slack wind, even when barracuda are abundant, brings but few fish. The largest 
catch reported for a single day is 1,100 by one boat with two men. Rarely more than 
forty are taken. They average from 6 to 12 pounds and from 2| to 4 feet in length, 
and retail at 10 cents apiece. Large numbers are salted and dried. 
About Monterey they are taken in gill nets. In 1890 the first individuals reached 
Monterey on March 10. 
Like most of the* surface and shore food-fishes the barracuda feeds chiefly on the 
anchovy ( Stolephorus ringens). 
The mackerel comes in along this part of the coast in April. Large 
schools remain for a few weeks and then move north ; they return in 
October or November, bnt in a few weeks go southward to the Mexican 
coast, where they are reported as being abundant during the winter 
months. A few are found off the coast of California throughout the 
year. Individuals weigh from 1 to 2J pounds each and average about 
1 J pounds. The Pacific mackerel never gets fat and does not improve 
with the advancing season like the Atlantic species. When salted, it 
is usually of a dark color and is an inferior article of food, though 
when fresh it sells readily in the market. Little attention is paid to 
the mackerel and the fishermen only catch enough to supply the local 
demand. 
Twenty-seven species of Sebastichthys occur on the Pacific coast, of 
which at least twelve are taken by the fishermen of San Diego. The 
most common forms, omitting the yellow- tail (8. flavidus) are S. mini - 
atus , 8. caurinus subsp. vexillaris , and 8. ruber , all of which are distin- 
guished by their red color. There are also 8. mystinus and S. melanops , 
which are black. Herring and sardines remain in San Diego Bay and 
its vicinity throughout the year, and large quantities are taken in drift 
and set gill-nets from March until November. The fishermen occa- 
sionally bring in small specimens of the so-called “black-cod” of the 
northern Pacific (Anoplopoma fimbria), which apparently nearly reaches 
its southern limit of distribution off this part of the coast. Neither 
sturgeon nor salmon are found in these waters. 
Porpoises are plenty in the bay and along the coast and whales are 
