An Umbrella of Fishes 207 



of kelp — the Nereocystis and others, beaten from some dis- 

 tant bank, floating gardens of the sea, and so closely inter- 

 woven, that they formed rafts upon which floated the gulls, 

 their white plumage being visible a long distance. 



These patches of weed constitute living umbrellas for 

 many fishes, large and small, and our fishing on this day of 

 days was made up of excursions from one island to another ; 

 now lying by one, anchoring to it by hauling the weed on 

 board, and as we drifted, casting into the deep-blue channel 

 for the game yellowtail, which coursed about affording 

 sport of a quality rarely seen elsewhere. 



One of these weed islands would have afforded a zoologist 

 study for a long time, and a volume could have been written 

 on the strange animals living there ; and that they formed 

 umbrellas for the fishes was more than a fanciful suggestion. 

 Under one I saw half a dozen sunfishes, which swam lazily 

 off at our approach, then came back; and under all were 

 schools of little fishes of various kinds, which the boatmen 

 called " offshore minnows," which were, doubtless, the young 

 of a variety of mackerel-like fishes, and others, which had 

 followed the weed when it was broken from its anchorage. 

 When we first saw them they were distributed over an area 

 twenty feet square; but at the slightest alarm they would 

 dash back to cover and hide under the richly tinted protect- 

 ive leaves. 



An interesting feature of this assemblage was that many 

 of the large fishes had taken on the exact tint of the great 

 kelp. As I looked down, or under it from the launch, these 

 fishes, hugging the weed so closely, could hardly be dis- 

 tinguished from it; the result being a remarkably effective 

 protective resemblance, as when one of these fishes dashed 

 into the weed, it disappeared as though some magic wand 

 had touched it, and changed it into a bit of seaweed. I 

 counted four or five distinct species of the smaller fishes; 

 and preying on them were the yellowtails, which swam 

 lazily around below, their green-tinted backs looking not un- 



