256 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES ON THE FISHES OF JAPAN.*— No. IV. t 

 By Professor McIntosh, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



Belonging to the group of the Mackerels and Perches is the 

 pelagic Istiophorust orientalis, T. & S., a Sail-fish of ten feet in 

 length, and weighing 164 lb., having a huge dorsal fin which 

 stands more than the depth of the body above it, and which 

 may, as Dr. Giinther says, be used as a sail before the wind. 

 The dorsum of the fish has a dark green glow with bluish dots, 

 the large dorsal fin being of a similar hue with bluish-black dots. 

 The annual catch of this fish is about 11,823,687 lbs., and it is 

 captured by means of harpoons, and generally consumed fresh. 

 It is excellent food. As a rule it swims in pairs, with the huge 

 fin erect and above water, especially in windy and rough weather, 

 when the fishermen more easily approach it to hurl a harpoon ; 

 the line is then paid out until the fish, after furious efforts, 

 exhausts itself. A figure on the same plate with the foregoing 

 represents Tetrapturus albidus, Poey, which much resembles the 

 Sword-fishes in habits, and is probably caught and eaten like the 

 foregoing, though no remarks accompany it. 



Three members of the Herring Family (Clupeida) are dealt 

 with in this fascicle, viz. Clupea pallasi, C. & V., Etrumeus micro- 

 pus, T. & S., and Engraulis japonicus, T. & S. The first, or 

 North Pacific Herring, is perhaps the most important Japanese 

 fish, both as food and as a fertilizer in farming. Like our own 

 Herring, its record shows no diminution, and there are probably 

 greater numbers of this fish in the Pacific — just as there are 

 greater numbers of the Common Herring in the Atlantic — than 

 any other species. Even were it possible to remove every other 

 species of fish and those which prey on them, the supply for 



* ' The Economic Fishes of Japan,' by Professors Otaki, Fujita, and 

 Higurashi. No. I. vol. v., four plates. Shokwabo, Tokyo, Japan. 1909. 



f Previous communications on this subject will be found in ' The Zoolo- 

 gist,' 1904, p. 247 ; 1906, p. 143; 1907, p. 450. 



| Histiophorns, Giinther. 



