Famous Game Fish In Southern Waters

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 685, 10 June 1929, Page 9

Famous Game Fish In Southern Waters

STRANDED TUNA FOUND ON ORETI BEACH f Special, to THE SUXJ INVERCARGILL, Today. A discovery of extraordinary interest was made on Areti Beach, Invercargill yesterday afternoon, when a monsti r fish, which has been identified beyond doubt as a tuna, was found strand* d by the tide. It was in an excellent state of preservation and had obviously been dead only a few hour So far as is known here, this is tinfirst time this king of all game fish has ever been found in waters off tinNew Zealand coast. “A game fish par excellence." "tintiger of the Californian coast." .t living meteor that strikes at whirls i:i speed and plays like a storm, ’ arc deserpitions th.| have been applied to the tuna, the largest representative o' the mackerel family, which attains up to the enormous weight of 1,50011 n The tuna is widely distributed, betn-i found in all warm seas and is known to be a wanderer, but the discovery ol one on Oreti Beach provides much food for speculation, though it may be that the specimen found was one thai had plaved truant from its school ami had inadvertently wandered in Southern seas. It is, on the other hand, quite conceivable that manymore of its fellows are in tjiese waters. Mr. I. S. Holder says in his well known book. "They are the most er ratic of fishes, comiug and going " out any set of rules.” and it is qi 1 possible that they have decided a take up their abode, for the time i. least, in Southern waters, despite the fact that they are accustomed to warmer latitudes. If this is so. South land would become the rendezvous i i anglers from all parts of the world It was really ouly through the dicovery of a swordfish on the beach that the realisation grew that thes fish were to be found off the North Auckland coast, and it wos only wbe i the proper tackle and proper method were employed that swordfish wei caught. The same experience mighi be the lot of anglers who tried their luck off the Southloand coast. It was Messrs. J. K. Garrett. *>f Invercargill, and E. M. Garrett, visitors from Auckland, who found the fish and communicated with a repoi ter. The tuna was brought to Inver cargill and now reposes in a fish shop window, where it is the cynosure of all eyes. Probably it will be preserved in the Southland Museum. It was five feet in length, and it is estimated that the weight is 2001 b. It has a propeller-like tail, and the shaio and position of the fins and the nin*finlets above and eight finlets helo* . correspond exactly with those of the tuna. __