THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOELD 



the back from tip to tip of the fins, ' -wings,' twenty feet. Actual 

 length of the -wings, &ve feet five inches. Width of the mouth, 

 two feet nine inches. Across the head from eye to eye, five feet ; 

 from base of the tail to mouth, eleven feet eight inches. Length 

 •of tail, six feet six inches. The fish literally weighed two thou- 

 sand six hundred and fifty-four pounds ; was twenty feet broad, 

 a,nd about nineteen feet long, which, doubtless, gives Mr. Conn 

 a record which -wHl stand a long while on the records of the Tuna 

 Club. 



In the Mediterranean and in European waters an equally 

 .^gantic devU-ray is found, Mobula edentula. Another species, 

 M. Jiypostoma, is known from Brazil, and one equally large from 

 Japan, M. japonica, where it is sometimes brought in and gener- 

 ally eaten by the Japanese. The manta -will not appeal to the 

 angler, but harpooning and graining is an art and a most inter- 

 •esting one ; one requiring, if the game is large, no little sMU, 

 cleverness and good judgment. Graining a ray or a sa-wflsh 

 is productive of excitement in all its variety. The sa-wfish up 

 to six hundred pounds has been taken by Mr. Edwin Vom Hofe 

 with tuna tackle — a remarkable catch. As I -write these lines 

 my mind reverts to a duel I once had with a sawfish ten or more 

 :feet long. I grained it and was towed about for some time, but 

 finally, -with the aid of a companion got alongside. I have a -vivid 

 picture before me of the big fish rearing up, practically stand- 

 ing upright, wa-ving its deadly saw up and do-wn, then dri-vtng 

 it into my cedar boat imtil the ivory pins broke off, suggestive 

 of what might happen. It is sufficient to say that when this 

 occurred I dropped into the bottom of the boat and laid low, 

 while my dusky companion stood not on the order of going, but 

 •dived overboard. In the confusion the sawfish broke the grain- 

 line and swam away, much to my relief. 



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