THE GAME FISHES OF THE WORLD 



the great arches of kelp. This is the black sea-bass, peculiar to 

 California. 



As we slowly drift along we suddenly come upon a school of 

 beautiful and shapely fishes. They resemMe salmon, but are 

 darker above and silvery below. None are less than four feet in 

 length, and they weigh not less than forty or fifty pounds — a, 

 sight for the angler. They are white sea-bass, one of the finest 

 game fighters of the region. If the boat drifts clear of the kelp 

 into blue water we may catch a glimpse of the most beautiful 

 of all the CaUfornian fishes, the Dorado, or dolphin, a game fish 

 which attains a weight of seventy or more pounds. The long, 

 sharp-nosed fishes are barracudas. The sight of hundreds of eyes 

 as we drift over them is one to be remembered. The barracuda 

 invariably runs in schools while its Florida relative is solitary. 

 Coming up from the bottom is the attractive whitefish, and the 

 sheepshead, the latter fish with a massive, domed head of velvet- 

 black and white lower jaw, its body alternate red and black 

 stripes. This is a friendly and familiar fish. Its young are 

 blue and very attractive. If very lucky, and in the summer season 

 when the glass-bottom boat is crossing deep water from point to 

 point, the observer may see the fine Catalina swordfish, the most 

 spectacular of game fishes. When hooked he constitutes a whole 

 moving-picture, as he jumps forty or fifty times, in frantic and 

 fierce endeavours to escape. 



In deeper water the bonito, the albacore and on rare occasions 

 a leaping tuna may be seen. Some years ago a school of large 

 tunas came into Avalon Bay, and those who chanced to be in 

 glass-bottom boats saw scores of them dashing away, while the 

 glass was fairly obstructed by flying fishes seeking the bottom 

 of the boat in terror. When the boat with a window drifts slowly 

 over greater depths the moving-picture show is often made up of 

 remarkable jelly-fishes. One, a white and lavender-tinted meteor, 

 has been seen in early spring with a train of tentacles estimated 

 at fifty feet in length. Often they fairly cloy the water, and 

 scores can be seen pulsating by. A remarkable black jelly-fish is 

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