CHAPTER XV 

 THE ALBACORE 



THE subject of the present chapter is a very king of 

 fish. Without controversy, he is the head of the 

 vast mackerel family, the Scombridae, of which 

 our well-beloved mackerel is perhaps the best-known 

 exponent in the whole world. But, perhaps, it would 

 be better, seeing how varied are the Albacore's ad- 

 ventures, how vast is his range of habitat, and how 

 different are the names by which he is known in vari- 

 ous parts of the world, to let him tell his own story, 

 after a very brief description of his majesty's person. 

 First, then, imagine if you can, a mackerel who, 

 by some extraordinary process of development, has 

 attained a length of say six to eight feet. But, in 

 doing so, he has not retained that slender elegance of 

 outline characteristic of the common mackerel ; he has 

 put on a disproportionate girth, so that given a length 

 of seven feet he will often be five feet in circumference. 

 In colour he is a steely blue with lighter shadings, until 

 on part of the belly the colour is almost that of burnished 

 silver. His fins, which are almost exactly the same 

 shape as in the common mackerel, but proportionately 

 larger, are golden in hue, and glitter in the sunshine 

 when he is near the surface with an almost intolerable 

 brilliancy to the eye. On both sides of the body, 

 commencing at the pectoral fins and about midway 

 between back and belly, is a wavy line, almost black 



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