206 Big Game Fishes 
its actual weight; the tail is strongly forked, 
keeled, and here are the finlets of the tuna, seven 
or eight in number. Trim the side fins, and the 
average observer not skilled in fish lore would 
announce it a tuna; but these remarkable fins dis- 
tinguish it from all other fishes. Each pectoral fin 
is nearly half the length of the entire body, or to 
be exact, two-fifths its length, shaped like daggers, 
with a slight curve downward; the fins are very 
narrow and in every instance observed by me 
were held close to the sides of the fish when 
swimming, the real locomotive organ being the 
tail, a “screw” of tremendous power. Doubtless 
the long pectorals have more to do with the re- 
markable agility of the fish than is suspected. In 
its coloring the albacore is very attractive, garbed 
in resplendent tints. Its back is a vivid steely 
blue, and being broad and rotund it is a conspicu- 
ous object in the water. The belly is white, or 
silvery, the fins dark, gleaming with a blue irides- 
cence or lustre. 
Such is the catch, the albacore, the Germo 
alalunga (Gmelin) of science, the most active 
of all its congeners. It is one of the commonest 
fishes in the Pacific waters, found in nearly all 
tropical seas, but not caught on the Atlantic 
