Fishes as Food for Man 



333 



Variety of Tropical Fishes. — In the tropics no one species is 

 represented by enormous numbers of individuals as is the case 

 in colder regions. On the other hand, the number of species 

 regarded as food-fishes is much greater in any given port. In 

 Havana, about 350 different species are sold as food in the mar- 

 kets, and an equal number are found in Honolulu. Upward of 

 600 different species appear in the markets of Japan. In Eng- 

 land, on the contrarv^ about 50 species make up the list of fishes 

 commonly used as food. Yet the number of individual fishes 

 is probably not greater about Japan or Hawaii than in a similar 

 stretch of British coast. 



Economic Fisheries. — Volumes have been written on the eco- 

 nomic value of the different species of fishes, and it is not the 

 purpose of the present work to summarize their contents. 



Fio. 222. — Fishing for Avu witli Cormorants in tlie Tanii'j;awa, near Tokyo. 

 (After" pliotograph by J. O. Snyder l>y Sekko Sliiiriada.) 



Equally voluminous is the Hterature on the subject of catch- 

 ing fishes. It ranges in quality from the quaint wisdom of the 

 " Compleat Angler" and the delicate wit of " Little Rivers " to 

 elaborate discussions of the most economic and effective forms 

 and methods, of the beam-trawl, the purse-seine, and the cod- 



