Mr. C. F. Holder gives this account of the capture of oarfishes in southern California:
"From a zoological point of view the island of Santa Catalina, which lies eighteen miles off the coast of Los Angeles County, southern California, is very interesting, many rare animals being found there. Every winter the dwellers of the island find numbers of argonaut-shells, and several living specimens have been secured, one for a time living in the aquarium which is maintained here for the benefit of students and the entertainment of visitors. A number of rare and interesting fishes wander inshore from time to time. Several years ago I found various Scopeloid fishes, which up to that time had been considered rare, and during the past few years I have seen one oarfish (Regalecus russelli) alive, while another was brought to me dead. From reports I judge that a number of these very rare fishes have been observed here. The first was of small size, not over two feet in length, and was discovered swimming in shallow water along the beach of Avalon Bay. I had an opportunity to observe the radiant creature before it died. Its 'topknot'—it can be compared to nothing else—was a vivid red or scarlet mass of seeming plumes—the dorsal fins, which merged into a long dorsal fin, extending to the tail. The color of the body was a brilliant silver sheen splashed with equally vivid black zebra-like stripes, which gave the fish a most striking appearance.
"The fish was a fragile and delicate creature, a very ghost of a fish, which swam along where the water gently lapped the sands with an undulatory motion, looking like one of its names—the ribbon-fish. The fortunate finder of this specimen could not be persuaded to give it up or sell it, and it was its fate to be pasted upon a piece of board, dried in the sun as a 'curio,' where, as if in retaliation at the desecration of so rare a specimen, it soon disappeared.
"This apparently was the first oarfish ever seen in the United States, so at least Dr. G. Brown Goode wrote me at the time that it had not been reported. In 1899 another oarfish was brought to me, evidently having been washed in after a storm and found within a few yards of the former at Avalon. The discoverer of this specimen also refused to allow it to be properly preserved, or to donate or sell it to any one who would have sent it to some museum, but, believing it valuable as a 'curio,' also impaled it, the delicate creature evaporating under the strong heat of the semitropic sun.
"This, as stated, was the second fish discovered, and during the past winter (1900) a fine large specimen came in at Newport Beach, being reported by H. J. Forgy, of Santa Ana. The newspapers announced that a Mexican had found a young sea-serpent at Newport, and investigation showed that, as in hundreds of similar instances, the man had found a valuable prize without being aware of it. According to the account, the discoverer first saw the fish alive in the surf and hauled it ashore. Being ignorant of its value, he cut it up, bringing in a part of the scarlet fins and a slice of the flesh. This he showed to some men, and led the way to where lay the mutilated remains of one of the finest oar-or ribbon-fishes ever seen. The specimen was twenty-one feet in length, and its weight estimated at five hundred pounds. The finder had so mutilated it that the fish was ruined for almost any purpose. If he had packed it in salt, the specimen would have returned him the equivalent of several months' labor. Apparently the man had cut it up in wanton amusement.
"This recalls a similar incident. I was on one occasion excavating at San Clemente Island, and had remarked that it was a singular fact that all the fine stone ollas were broken. 'Nothing strange about that,' said a half-breed, one of the party. 'I used to herd sheep here, and we smashed mortars and ollas to pass away time.'"
Fig. 425.—Oarfish, Regalecus russelli, on the beach at Newport, Orange Co., Cal. (Photograph by C. P. Remsberg.)
The Dealfishes: Trachypteridæ.—The family of Trachypteridæ comprises the dealfishes, creatures of fantastic form and silvery coloration, smaller than the oarfishes and more common, but of similar habit.
Just as in Norway the fantastic oarfish was believed to be the king of the herrings and cherished as such, so among the Indians of Puget Sound another freak fish is held sacred as the king of the salmon. The people about Cape Flattery believe that if one does any harm to this fish the salmon will at once leave the shores. This fable led the naturalists who first discovered this fish to give it its name of Trachypterus rex-salmonorum.