96 ACANTHOPTERTGIl. 



Some authors have referred their commencement prior to the historic flood : 

 others have credited Tubal Cain with having first employed boats and manu- 

 factured hooks for this purpose. The Phoenicians are said to have estabHshed 

 tunny fisheries in Spain. Herodotus, B.C. 550, alludes to nets employed for taking 

 this fish, and ^lian, how a watch tower was erected in an elevated situation to 

 enable a watchman or huer to keep a look out for the advent of the tunnies. 

 When perceived, he warned the fishermen, and likewise gave notice as to the way 

 the shoal was heading. Much the same procedure continues to the present time, 

 and on the watchman giving the alarm, numerous boats at once proceed to sea, 

 the fishermen being under the orders of a chief, who directs them how to 

 surround the fishes with a long net constructed of several pieces, which are 

 severally joined together. As they draw in closer, more nets are added and the 

 aifrighted fish driven to where their destruction becomes easy. These may be 

 stationary nets, having a cone-shaped tunnel to receive them, or large enclosures 

 constructed of nets (see Introduction). In the Black Sea the greatest captures 

 are made as the tunnies pass the Bosphorus. 



Baits. — Although some authors assert that these fish do not take a bait, this 

 cannot be invariably the case. Pennant observed that they did in his time : and 

 in localities where they are numerous, an imitation fish proves a good lure. 



Breeding. — Oif Sicily, according to the Duke d'Ossada, these fish arrive in 

 April or early in May with the ova undeveloped, but they rapidly grow and are 

 deposited after the middle of June. In July the young are said to weigh \\ oz. : 

 in August, 4 oz. : in October, 30 oz. 



As food. — When quite fresh, if not above about 30 lb. in weight, the flesh is 

 tolerable, its colour before being cooked somewhat resembles beef, but it becomes 

 j)aler when boiled. Some consider its flavour between that of the salmon and 

 the mackerel, but inferior to both. Others have compared the firmness of its flesh 

 to that of the sturgeon, but considered its flavour to be superior. They may be 

 used for soup, as ragouts, or plain fried or boiled. In Prance pies are made 

 of tunny which are celebrated all over that country. Tlion marine is this fish 

 preserved in oil with salt, and which is eaten cold like pickled salmon. The 

 eggs also are prepared with salt. 



In Pliny's time tunnies were cut into pieces, the shoulder, neck, and abdomen 

 being most esteemed when eaten quite fresh, but even then they occasionally gave 

 rise to much flatulence. The remainder of the fish was preserved in salt. The 

 portions, which somewhat resembled black oaken boards, were termed melandrya. 

 The tail part was that least esteemed. Younger ones were cut into cubical pieces 

 and termed cyhium, or small cubes. The shoulders formed the clidium : the 

 auclienia was from the nape of the neck : while the horeuin or -ureum was believed 

 to be the tail part, but these terms appear to have been differently used in distant 

 localities. The tunnies of Spain and Sardinia were considered by the Romans as 

 more tender and better tasted than those from Clonstantinople, this was attributed 

 to the food being superior, and the further they travelled from these countries 

 towards the column of Hercules the poorer they were said to become. 



Habitat. — Prom the North Atlantic, extending into the Mediterranean and the 

 Black Sea, along the British coasts and have been captured off Sweden, while the 

 British Museum has received an example from Tasmania, in the South Pacific, 

 rendering it probable that their range is more extensive than is at present known. 

 In the Western Hemisphere they are occasionally seen in Newfoundland, 

 and sometimes specimens of large size are washed up dead, especially after sevt're 

 gales (Saxby, Zoologist, 1871, p. 2553). They extend down North America to so 

 far south as Plorida and even into the Carribean Sea, and Poey enumerates the 

 various stages as distinct species all belonging to the Cuban Fauna. 



In Britain they have been taken in the vicinity of the islands on the north 

 and west coast of Scot-land, while off Banffshire several have been captured from 

 time to time, and a very large one in a salmon net at Portsey. This last measured 9 

 feet in length and 6 in girth (Edward). They have been recorded off the 

 Norfolk coast where a large one came ashore (Gatcombe, Zool. 1877, p. 27). In 

 the Norwich Museum is one 42 inches in lenpth, believed to have been 



