California White Sea-bass

Cynoscion nobilis (Ayres)

Images coming soon.

This important game-fish is perhaps most abundant about Santa Catalina, but ranges north to San Francisco, and occasionally even to Victoria, Vancouver Island. It reaches a weight of 20 to 80 pounds, and is one of the really great game-fishes. Professor Holder says:

"The season is generally May and June. Of 7 caught in one day by the writer with a 16-strand line each weighed over 50 pounds, and every fish made a play of from 15 to 30 minutes that can only be described by the term magnificent. There is a difference in individuals, but one 51-pound bass, taken after a 25-minute contest, I believe, gave me more pleasure than any catch I ever made.

"The fish played entirely on the surface, and I only saved it by the skill and quick movements of my boatman as the fish repeatedly rushed around the boat. This fish is a beautiful creature in bronze and old-gold tints, and is well called the Santa Catalina salmon, having a close resemblance to that fish and being its equal in every way. The equipment used is, so far as line is concerned, the same as for the tuna, though I prefer a lighter line and a lighter rod. Flying-fish or large smelt is the killing bait, trolled slowly along not 50 feet from the shore. All my catches were made in Avalon Bay not 200 feet from shore, and around the first week in May."

Cynoscion nothus, which is usually called the bastard weakfish, is a well-marked species, differing in numerous respects from the others of the genus. It occurs on our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and is a good food-fish. Colour, grayish silvery, thickly punctulate above and on sides to level of pectorals, then abruptly silvery, a row of dark points marking the line of division; snout and tip of lower jaw blackish; mouth white within; lower fins white, the upper dusky.

C. reticulatus, the corvina, is found from Mazatlan to Panama. It reaches a length of 3 feet and is a common food-fish on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

C. parvipinnis, the California bluefish, is found on our Pacific coast from the Santa Barbara Islands to Guaymas and Mazatlan. It is common as far north as San Pedro, and is an excellent food-fish, not inferior to the squeteague. Colour, clear steel-blue, without stripes or spots; lower fins yellowish.

C. macdonaldi, the totuava, is the largest species of the genus. It is known only from the Gulf of California, where it is very abundant along the entire eastern shore, congregating in great numbers about the mouth of the Colorado River. It enters the river and is found feeding in shallow water near the shore, where it is easily approached and speared. At the head of the Gulf it is known as the sea-bass, while at Guaymas it is called totuava. It reaches an enormous size, examples weighing 172 pounds having been taken with hand-lines at the head of the Gulf.

GENUS BAIRDIELLA GILL

The Mademoiselles

This genus is characterized by the oblique mouth, little cavernous skull, few rows of small teeth, slender gill-rakers, and the preopercle armed with a plectroid spine.

The numerous species are all American, all small in size and silvery in colouration. Some of them are remarkable for the great size of the second anal spine, while in others it is quite small.

The only species which is of much food-value is the yellowtail or mademoiselle. It is a well-known fish, very common from New England to Texas on sandy shores. It is most abundant southward. It reaches a foot or less in length and is a most excellent pan-fish.

Colour, greenish above, silvery below; back and sides more or less densely punctate with dark dots, forming narrow, somewhat irregular streaks; fins plain, mostly yellow in life.

GENUS SCIAENOPS GILL

This genus is very close to Ophioscion, from which it differs in the loss of the preopercular spines with age, the serrate edge of the bone becoming entire; caudal truncate or concave; soft dorsal scaleless; slits and pores of upper jaw well developed.

The genus contains but one species, Sciaenops ocellatus, the red-drum, channel-bass, redfish, bull redfish, or pescado colorado, well known as an abundant and important food-fish of our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from New York to Texas. It is very abundant, especially southward, and is of rare occurrence north of Virginia. It is fifth among the commercial fishes of Indian River, but is rare at Key West. On the Texas coast it is the most abundant food-fish. Its habits have never been fully studied. In Indian River it seems to be resident, being most common in winter and early spring. The larger individuals, such as are usually called channel-bass, appear to leave the river for a brief time during the coldest season, and they also go outside for a time during the warmest period. The spawning season here probably extends from spring to fall and the fish probably spawn inside the river.