142 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
The new Tunas appear to be most numer¬ 
ous in January. 
The writer has good cause to believe 
the reason this fish has not been taken 
until recently is because the tackle used 
for the Sailfish and other fishes common 
in the waters harboring this Tuna was 
too light to stand the strain put upon it 
when this powerful fish struck. Many 
lines and rods have been broken by large 
fishes in this section, and sharks have 
been blamed, when unquestionably, in a 
great many cases, it was the newly dis¬ 
covered Tuna. 
The Thunnus allisoni is, like the others 
of the genus, a warm-blooded fish and its 
flesh is of fine quality and flavor. 
Reptiles as well as fish have found the 
Gulf Stream a kindly habitat; but Turtles, 
probably the most valuable of reptiles, are 
diminishing rapidly in many of the locali¬ 
ties bathed by this great stream of warm 
water where they were formerly abun¬ 
dant. During the period of slavery it is 
said that many negroes were prompted to 
try to escape, in some sections of the 
South, because they were compelled to 
subsist mainly on a diet of Terrapin. Now 
Terrapin is a much-sought-for delicacy, 
difficult to obtain. And what is true of 
the Terrapin is also true of practically all 
other turtles. 
Without doubt, the Green Turtle is the 
finest-flavored of the sea turtles and the 
most highly esteemed as food. It is an 
herbivorous feeder, inhabiting the open 
seas in the West Indies, the Bahamas, 
Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific 
Ocean, and the Straits of Florida, al¬ 
though it is now almost extinct in Florida 
waters. The greatest numbers are taken 
oflF the Mosquito Coast of Central 
America (Color Plate, page 158). 
The Green Turtle is a beautiful species, 
reaching a weight of more than 700 
pounds, but averaging considerably less. 
In captivity it becomes quite tame and 
thrives on turtle-grass, lettuce, and purs¬ 
lane, or “pusley.” It will eat flesh, but 
lives much better on vegetable foods. 
There is danger that these Turtles will 
be vs^iped out of existence. They are far 
less numerous than in past seasons, due 
to the natives digging the eggs. The 
female Turtle visits the beaches from 
April until June to deposit her eggs. This 
she does by digging a hole to a depth of 
from 14 to 18 inches in the sand, where 
she lays from one to two hundred eggs. 
On the fourteenth night from the first 
deposit—on what is known as the second 
crawl—she returns to lay more eggs close 
by her first nest. 
BIRDS ARE ENEMIES OF THE GREEN TURTLE 
Not only do the natives of the islands 
where the Turtles crawl rob the nests, but 
they frequently catch the Turtle after she 
has deposited her eggs, thus wiping out at 
one stroke both the mother and all her 
potential progeny. 
Although statutes covering the protec¬ 
tion of the Turtles are written into the 
laws where these reptiles were formerly 
plentiful, the marauders continue their 
work of despoilation. Yet even now be¬ 
tween 1,500 and 2,000 Green Turtles are 
brought annually to the Key West mar¬ 
kets, the average weight being 130 pounds. 
Man, although the greatest, is only one 
of the enemies of the turtle. When the 
young are hatched, they dig to the surface 
of the sand and immediately make toward 
the sea. Their instinct in locating the 
proper direction is unerring, and freshly 
hatched Turtles, flipped like a coin and 
turned away from the sea, will wheel 
around and make directly for the salt 
water. The Pelican and Man-o’-War 
Bird swallow the young as soon as they 
observe the small creatures on their way 
to the water, and if they reach the water 
they are harassed by their fellow sea- 
dwellers. 
THE SOURCE OF TORTOISE SHELL 
The Hawks-bill, or Shell Turtle, is with¬ 
out question the most beautiful of sea 
turtles. It is the producer of the much¬ 
valued tortoise shell of commerce. This 
species is found in considerable numbers 
in the West Indies, where its members 
deposit their eggs from May to July. It 
is also distributed throughout the Gulf 
of Mexico, south to Brazil and the Straits 
of Florida, although it is now rare in 
the last-named section to an even greater 
extent than the Green Turtle. Large 
quantities of the valuable shell are shipped 
every year, principally to Europe. The 
flesh is not as highly esteemed as that of 
the green turtle, but it is eaten in some 
localities (Color Plate, page 158). 
While the shell turtles are taken prin¬ 
cipally in large nets, into which they are 
driven, the natives of the West Indies 
