348 Big Game Fishes 
venturing beyond these lines, but rarely if ever 
seen inshore. There is a single genus and but 
two species, the one described, C. Aippurus, a 
large, powerful fish, attaining the length of six 
feet, and C. eguzsedi’s, from two to three feet. 
The name dolphin is an unfortunate misnomer; 
the fish might better be called harlequin, as the 
name dolphin is applied to the mammalian dol- 
phins — small, whalelike animals, equally common 
and referred to in mythology. Doubtless few 
anglers have seen the real dolphin (Delphznus) 
landed. I once saw a bottle-nose dolphin, weigh- 
ing about fifty pounds, which was taken with 
hook and line and sardine bait at Santa Catalina. 
The angler supposed he had a seal, and landed 
the animal only after a hard and consistent 
struggle; and knowing all the details of the cap- 
ture, I am enabled to place this interesting crea- 
ture on record as a very gamy catch. 
While the fish dolphin is a gorgeous creature, 
it has been my good fortune to see at the Califor- 
nia islands another fish, a cousin germane, whose 
glories cannot be adequately described. This 
is the butterfly-fish, the opah, Lampris luna, 
known as cravo, poisson luna, soho, and_ other 
names in all parts of the world. It attains a 
