Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-11-28
THE POMPAN0.

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When few days since Mr.. John Nc
Gsrvin, the we'll known fisherman and
hunter of Los Alamitos, sent us fine
mess of pompano, we thought we would
see what the American fish authorities
had to say about this incompatible finny
luxury of the table. In 1884 the Gov
ernment issued out of its printing office
at Washington two large volumes on the
Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the
United States" One volume consists en-
tirely Of plates. elegantly gsS<sn up. of all
the aquStic animals and fishes frequentipg
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, each plate
having reference to the other volume,
where the fish, its habitat and it's pecu
work was prepared through the co-opera-
ton of the Commissioners of Fisheries
by George Browne Goode and staff of
associates.
On turning to the pages devoted to the
several varieties of pompano, we find
that the particular variety which visits
this coast is treated as follows:
1.-The Common Pompano (Traehynotns
Carolinus) occurs in both the Atlantic
and Pacific waters of the United States.
On our eastern coast it ranges north to
Cape Cod, south to Jamaica, east to the
Bsrmudas and west in the Gulf of Mex
leo at least as far as the mouth of the
Mississippi river. In the Pacific 1t is
rare, and as yet only known to the Gulf
of California, where it has recently been
observed by Mr.. G. II. Gilbert"
l.
last sentence, which shows a degree of
ignorance OF the part of the compilers of
this official work which can only be de-
fined as supremely Grass. Yet we shall
say this in favor of the work generally,
that we have found it to deal with full
intelligence and exact information of
other varieties of fishes on this coast.
But when it comes to say that
| the pompano is rare in these wa
ters, and only found in the Gulf
of California, We draw the line of
commendation, and proceed to show that
Mr.. Goode and his associates have been
grossly imposed upon. The pompan0 is
priced everywhere as the most tooth
some and delicious Of all table fishes,
and the people of this Coast who have
had it as an article of diet for many years
protest against being thus arbitrarily de.
prived of it by official decree.
The pompano visits the shores of
Southern California in great schools
every year, and is taken from the waters
of Catalina and other islands at all sea-
sons. The markets of Los Angeles, San
Diego and San Francisco are supplied
every fall with this aquatic delicacy, and
the range of its occurrence" to borrow
a term from Mr.. Goode, reaches as far as
Humboldt Bay. Whilst the pompano
comes to our Southern California coast
in great shoals, it is less numerous farther
north, and the catch outside of San
Francisco is considered great windfall,
or deodand, to use law term, to the pro-
fessional fisherman of that market, and
commands fancy price. 1t is never
caught on the hook unless by mistake,
and feeds on the small shell fish
which abound on our shelving shores.
They are caught here in seines, and at
the islands in traps, generally the cray
fish traps, If the slats are close enough.
The pompano when caught here has NOT
attained its full size, for they rarely
measure over eight inches when landed
on our shores; but as they attain much
greater size in the Florida and Bermudas
waters, showing the average weight OF a
full-grown specimen to be about one and
a half pounds, We presume there is some
point in these waters which they frequent
when they have attained their normal
limit of growth. 1t may be the Gulf OF
California. and if 80, this may have led
to the enormous error our friends the
Fish Commission ers have made in their
otherwise admirable. interesting and
yaluable work