New-York tribune., 1900-06-24

out of water, throw the hook from its mouth
and return to the shades of private life. If
a line that has a fisherman at one end and a
bluefsh at the other is not pulled in rapidly
enough to stay taut the consequences just sug-
gested likely to ensue, and a vivid but
eXasperatng exhibition of a bluefsh's pluck
and agility will be afforded. After all. though,
nothing like a symmetrical and complete esti-
mate of the character of a bluefsh be
reached without intimate knowledge Of his
private habits.
AWFUL TALES OF FEROCITY.
In spite of the favor with which this beautiful
and spirited creature is generally regarded those
who have had good chance to study him tell
awful tales of his ferocity. The pike and shark
enjoy rather undesirable regulations in this re-
spect. But rigid and strictly judicial investi-
cation of the facts warrants a suspicion that
the bluefish outranks them both in sheer cruelty.
Sharks are greedy and unprinciped enough,
heaven knows. But it can at least be said in
their behalf that they eat what they kill, and
are not given to slaughter out of pure "cussed-
ness" The bluef1sh, the contrary, Stays just
for the fun of the thing. When he overtakes
a school Of menhaden he attacks one after an
other in rapid succession. Some of them he
swallows whole. Others he merely lacerates
The fact that he had what is POLITICALLY called
a square meal only fifteen minutes before puts
restraint his murderOus propensities He
snaps at the nearest mossbunker, takes a small
Inorsel out of his unfortunate victim, and leaves
the mangled remains floating in the water for
the gus. The latter haunt the neighbor-
hood of a band of marauding bluefish on this
account, and thus give to the practised fisher
man a free tip regarding the wherea bouts of his
prey.
The gull is side issue, though The main
question is the fish and his extraordinary ra-
pacity. There is limit to be sure to the
capacity of bluefishs stomach. And when that
organ is filed he can't well stow away anything
more there. All the same, he goes on playing
Herod with the innocents that come within his
reach. The finding of remnants of menhaden
and other small fish in the water a school
of bluefsh has given rise to the notion that
after having eaten all he accommodate,
the latter will disgorge, preparatory to fresh
onslaughts But considerable doubt attaches to
the theory. 1t seems to be merely an inference
from the debris found in the water near school
of bluefsh. No one reports having witnessed
the election of food from a fsh's mouth.
MILLIONS OF FISH.
The number Of bluefsh taken off the Jersey
and Long Island coasts during a single season
us been put by a writer in The Fishing Ga
$ette'' at Million and he makes this only /
per cent of the total number swarming in these
waters. He then expresses the opinion that
less than 2,J0O,000,000 pounds of menhaden are
eaten by bluetish daily or about two and half
pounds to a bluefish. If these figures are even
approximately correct the bIuefsh eats from a
quarter to half his weight in the course
of twenty-four hours. 1t is impossible to find
a parallel for this yoracity among land car
nivora. More than a dozen mossbunkers have
been found in the stomach of a bIueish. But
ON the theory that he ate only ten day during
a season OF 40 days the whole billion of bluefish
off the coast would get away with an appalling
number Of menhaden in a season of four months
Such a calculation emphasizes not only the de-
structiveness of the bluefsh, but also the as
tonishng fecundfty of its victims which can
endure that kind of havoc without any apparent
diminution
THE DIVER AND THE BLUEFIsH.
They do say, however, that the bIuefish will
Seek to aVenge himself on his human enemy if
the opportunity offers Not only will he bite
fercely while being removed from a fshhook
but he Will actually attack man in the water
If the following narrative had originated with
a fisherman one might be excused for enter
tanning msSivings to it's truthfuness, but the
narrator is a submarine diver and who ever
knew a submarine diver to depart further than