2 Big Game Fishes 
the tuna. The long bones (12) attached to the 
backbone are the ribs which form the frame of 
the abdominal section, while projecting upward 
from the vertebrae are bones (c) which may be 
termed braces to the upper and fleshy portion of 
the fish. The pseudo-backbone above (74, 75) is 
the framework of the top or dorsal fin, certain 
spinous bones (74) extending downward, embed- 
ded or anchored in the flesh forming the base of 
the dorsal spines (75), which extend upward clear 
of the body and there connected by a web or 
membrane, or not, as the case may be, become 
the dorsal fins (75). Sometimes there is but one, 
as in the tarpon; again two, as in the perch. 
The head is a complicated organ made up of 
many bones; the jaws armed with teeth. The 
lower jaw has a wide range of movement, and if a 
fish is hooked here, the mouth is pulled open and 
the contest is not so interminable’as when it is 
hooked in the upper jaw, when it can close its 
mouth upon the hook. In tuna fishing this often 
makes a vast difference in time; hence some 
facile anglers claim that the fish should be hooked 
with a lateral motion instead of an upper; in 
other words, the lower jaw should be hooked, if 
possible, when the game is large. 
