Page 9 - Sella_M_1929

aooordlng to the theory of the ancients; but it does not serve to deny
that there may be tuna irhioh, instead of approaching Spain, enter the
Mediterranean, whether to spawn or not^ ind also 8 that there are no
important tuna fisheries on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, on this
aide of Gibraltar (De Buen); that the tuna oannot o-roroome the thermal
and saline barrier from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean (De Buen)i,
whioh is an a^ priori supposition^ or better^ which would be the explana-
tion of a fact, if the fact were demonstratedo

None of these is a proof p and I insist on the affirmation because,
in spite of their inoonsistenoyp the attempt is made to gire them the
weight of proofp even against direct and incontrovertible evidence, such
as that of the hooks,, Such arguments prove nothing against the possi*-
bility of a spawning immigration of tuna; nothing is known concerning
the non-spawning tuna,

4) Incidentally I will point out that hooks from North Spain found
in tuna of the largest size, taken in the Mediterranean, permit one to
deduce that the waters fronting the Cantabrian coast are visited by
numerous large tuna, although all that are actually caught in those
regions are tuna of small siee for the most part (15-30 kgD)o This
might perhaps be of interest to the fishermeno

The large number of North Spanish hooks recovered in recent years
is evidently related to the fact that both the hooks used for tuna in
the Gulf of Gascony and those used for "bonito* (a fish whioh has quite
a great importance there) are relatively small and attached to lines of
little strength, and therefore they are easily torn off by the large
tuna.

5) Bj. "t^ftPS of hooks it has been possible to ascertain the presence
of Thunnus thynnus in the Azores, where^ as far as I know^ it had not
yet been recordedo — Of the five species of tuna existing at the AzoreSj,
the most common are Th. obesus Lowe (called "albacora" there ^ "patudo" at
"
Madeira, and tuna" in the Canary ISo) and The pelaays Co Vo (" bonito"* *
" "
in the Azores, gaiado* at Madeirap and bonito in the Canary IsTJI
Fairly frequent, although less so than the preceding is Thunnus thynnus Lo
" "
(" rabgo* in the Azores, rabilho* at Madeira „ and patudo" in the Canary
*
IsTJI Tho albacorat liowe (" peixe de galha k re" in the Azores, "albacora*
"
at Madeira, and raMl * in the Canary Iso )o is rare^^ Very rare is
2JXt alalonga C voador* at Madeira, "barrilote" in the Canary Iso )»

IT In the Canary Is, there exists another species vriliich is similar but
with the second dorsal and cmal fins less developed, called "pez de
ley. " It is not certain whether it is a case of two distinct
species or of different stages of development of the same species,
the " pez de ley" being smaller than the " rabilo " And thus it is
even onoertain vrtiich of the two forms corresponds exactly to
Th, albacora.