THE GAME PISHES OF THE WOELD 



stopped to view the excitement, the result of this extraordinary- 

 scene. Children stood, knee-deep, in the water throwing out 

 the small fry in pails. Anglers lined the beach, aU endeavouring 

 to cast into the throng ; as a consequence, the lines became in- 

 extricably fouled or entangled, and a war of words followed. 

 Big fish carried away lines or broke them. One man fell off 

 the wharf, partly jerked over by a big fish, yet swam, holding 

 his rod up, and ultimately saved the game. 



For a half hour this extraordinary ' run ' of yeUowtails 

 continued, when they withdrew as suddenly as they had appeared, 

 passing up the coast, leaving the population of Avalon, dazed with 

 excitement, to collect and count the spoils, which, fortunately, 

 <50uld be used and were shipped to Los Angeles. The fish that 

 gave this remarkable illustration of its fighting, game and 

 pugnacious qualities, is well named the yeUowtaU, but is known 

 also as the white salmon, to which it is not related. It looks 

 not unhke the chinook salmon, but is longer, more slender, and 

 graceful, an ideal fish in form and beauty of personal appearance. 

 It is from three to nearly five feet long, and'ranges up to eighty 

 pounds in exceptional fishes ; painted with the yellows of 

 €ali£ornia in old gold or lemon tints on its tail and fins, while 

 from head to tail is a brilliant yellow stripe, making it a marine 

 ■cavahyman. The upper portion is oUve-green ; the lower a 

 bright silver purely minted and without a blemish. The tail is 

 powerful and forked. The head large, j aws powerful, mouth large, 

 and the eye fuU and brilliantly coloured. The dorsal fin is long 

 and prominent, as its specific name dorsalis indicates. 



Such is the fish of the people of Southern California, Seriola 

 dorsalis ; a distant cousin of the mackerel-Uke fishes, a near 

 aUy of the Florida amber-fish and the httle striped pilot-fishes 

 found about sharks and large swordfishes. It has kinsmen in 

 numerous amber fishes in various parts of the world, as S. hippos 

 of Australia, the ' Sampson fish,' 8. lalandi, of the West Indies 

 and east coast of Florida, and the big S. dumerili of the Mediter- 

 ranean. I have seen a photograph of a seventy -pound amber fish 

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