CHAPTER XVI 

 THE BONITO 



ONE of the first of the deep-sea people to greet the 

 young deep-water sailor after the porpoise, is the 

 gay, chubby, and brilliant fish whose name stands 

 at the head of this chapter. It was thus called by the 

 early Spanish voyagers, the word meaning ' beautiful.' 

 But I do not think they thus named it for its colours 

 or its grace of movement, since in both it is greatly 

 the inferior of the Coryphana. Rather I think it was 

 so called from its edible qualities, combined with its 

 friendliness and amenability to capture. It is a far 

 more frequently seen fish than either the albacore or 

 dolphin, and is also much more sociable than either 

 of them. Moreover, it is gregarious in its habits, and 

 swims in very large companies, so large, in fact, that 

 I have often in light winds, when the sea has been 

 comparatively smooth, been unable to look in any 

 direction without seeing Bonito busily leaping about 

 after their terrified prey. 



It is certainly a mackerel, a poor relation, so to 

 speak, of the albacore, which it greatly resembles, 

 though with several important differences. For in- 

 stance, the brilliant gold colour and imposing size 

 of the albacore's fins are greatly modified in the case 

 of the Bonito, as are also the curious bony processes 

 along the medial line near the tail. Its colour, too, 

 a dark blue, is not so pronounced, so transparently 



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