282 SALT-WATER FISHES 



it is known that examples of, say, 4 or 5 in. in length are 

 very uncommon. An analogous case is found in the basking- 

 shark, small individuals of which are never encountered, 

 and there also the only explanation lies in some haunts far 

 from our shores. A iew quite small anglers have, how- 

 ever, been described here and there, and Mcintosh mentions 

 one of c^\ in. found in an injured state on the shore, and 

 evidently, though most of the skin was gone, brilliantly 

 coloured. 



We now come to a number of relatives of the mackerels 

 and horse-mackerels, most of them swift ocean-going fishes, 

 which have a wide range. 



The Short-finned Tunny [Orcynus thynnus), the "great 

 mackerel " of the northern fishermen, has been taken in our 

 seas to the weight of 400 or 500 lbs. and a length of 9 or 

 10 ft. It is least uncommon in the late summer on our 

 south-west coast, where it comes inshore after the pilchards 

 that abound there at that season. In so doing, it sometimes 

 becomes entangled in the drift-nets. 



It is a large fish, resembling the mackerel in outline, the 

 pectoral fin long and scythe-shaped, and with a conspicuous 

 corselet of scales. In colour it is a very dark blue, the adult 

 losing the stripes that were conspicuous in the younger fish. 

 Both edges of the body have a number of finlets in front of 

 the tail, so characteristic of many of these larger mackerels. 

 A small example, measuring only 3 ft., was not long ago taken 

 in the drift-nets at Plymouth. 



The Long-finned Tunny (^Orcynus germo) has been taken 

 on our south-west coast, and also in the Solway Firth,* but only 

 measuring 2 or 3 ft. and weighing from 12 to 20 lb. It 

 is said to take a bait more readily than the larger tunny. 

 In colour it is very like it, but it has a much longer pectoral 

 fin, extending behind the second dorsal. There are the same 

 * Attn. Scot. Nat. Hist., January, 1898, p. 53. 



