An Umbrella of Fishes 209 



the danger point, and what we thought was a yellowtail 

 dashed along the surface. 



It was my companion's rod, so I stood up to watch his 

 skilful play and the gallant fight of the fish. Leaning over 

 I presently saw a blaze of brilliant purple with flashes of 

 silver, and announced that the game was not a yellowtail, 

 but an albacore. But as I looked, the purple faded, and a 

 marvelous, green took its place ; a green which gleamed, 

 sparkled and scintillated, faded into purple, became green 

 again, a weird bronze-green, which grew lighter and lighter 

 as the fish came up on the reel, and we saw that it was the 

 dolphin — one of the most gorgeous of all the fishes, famed 

 for its brilliant change of color. 



A shoal of dolphins tumbling in wild glee, 



Glowed with such orient tints, they might have been 



The rainbow's offspring, where it met the ocean. 



— Montgomery. 



This was a rare catch even in these prolific waters, and 

 as soon as its true nature was seen, it was played carefully 

 and brought to gaff ; a long, very thin, ribbon-like fish, with 

 a bowed head, a long dorsal fin, and a tail like that of a 

 swordfish. But who can describe its colors, its rapid changes 

 from vestment to vestment ? An animated rainbow ? There 

 is but one to which to compare it, and that, the interior of 

 the most gorgeous abalone shell, upon which the sun's rays 

 play with countless change and scintillation. We watched 

 the fish some time, and followed it through all of its changes. 

 As it died it was a bronze-greenish white, fading into purple ; 

 its long dorsal a vivid peacock-blue on the upper portion; 

 the base greenish-yellow, dotted with oval purple and old 

 rose spots. The dark eye was surrounded with a yellow 

 band; the lower jaws and fins were dashed with purple — a 

 catch to dream of. 



Some years ago I took a dolphin in a patch of sargassum, 

 off Florida, and I have hooked and speared them from the 



