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CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



the common one being 0. mola. Headflsh is the vernacular name 

 for them in many localities, though Sunfish is the more common 

 one. They hare acquired the latter appellation from the habit 

 they possess of lazily floating at the surface of the sea in a flat- 

 wise position, the whole glistening side of the creature being just 

 below the surface of the water. As thus engaged the waves 

 break over them, and the pectoral fin of the uppermost side is 

 languidly waved to and fro in the air. A dozen or more may thus 

 be seen from the deck of one's boat during the course of a day 

 almost anywhere along our coast, and owing to their conspicuous 

 size, that, too, at a considerable distance off. Many fishermen 

 find sport in harpooning them as they float in this manner, and 

 the ponderous fellows make no mean struggle for life afterward. 

 I have also read accounts of hunting them aboard a yacht or 

 steam launch with a heavy rifle or carbine. At such times ten or 

 a dozen of them are started, and swimming in the vertical atti- 

 tudes, offer no easy mark for the riflemen, as they are pursued in 

 their wake. When thus swimming the dorsal portion of the fish's 

 body is above the surface of the water, and its great dorsal fin 

 forms a very conspicuous object. 



Big Sunfishes may attain a length of at least eight feet and 

 weigh as much as 800 pounds ; but after one has captured a speci- 

 men, it is fit for nothing, except to study, look at, and wonder 

 about. Goode says the " flesh is thin and hard, and, when cooked, 

 separates into oil and bunches of tough fibers." As long ago as 

 1740 Dr. Barlow, an Englishman, suggested making glue of them, 

 but his bright idea seems never to have been carried out. At 

 Cape Cod the fishermen extract the oil from the livers of Sunfish 

 and believe there is nothing equal to it as a remedy for contu- 

 sions and sprains. 



In life the skin of the Sunfish has a brilliant silvery appear- 

 ance, and at night is said to be highly phosphorescent. Some 

 people say that this is the reason it has been called Sunfish, or 

 Moonfish, as others name it. Jellyfish, or Sunsqualls, are con- 

 sumed by them in great numbers, but as they are endowed with 

 powerful mandibles, it is by no means unlikely that they also 

 seek tougher foods. So far as the writer is aware, and unless the 

 knowledge has been recently acquired, we are utterly ignorant 

 as yet of the breeding habits of Mola, or even the localities fre- 

 quented by them for that purpose; every once in a while a young 

 one is captured, and that in mid-ocean. Although I sailed for an 



