Absolutely awesome material on spearfishing... though it's 40 years old..enjoy!!!!

Underwater Hunting: A Collection (Part 3)
Almanac "Rybolov-Sportsmen", No. 7/57

A NEW AND EXCITING SPORTOver the past decade a new sport has developed abroad: underwater hunting. It is especially widespread on the Mediterranean Sea and the Californian coast. In France, the USA, Italy and Australia there are numerous clubs of underwater hunters, competitions and contests are held, and literature on underwater hunting is published. In 1955 there were about two hundred and fifty thousand underwater hunters in England. The figure of the underwater hunter in a mask and clumsy fins, with a speargun in hand, has become a familiar sight on the coasts of many countries of the world.

Underwater hunting develops courage, decisiveness and powers of observation, and trains quick reactions. It teaches one to swim well, to dive, to control one's breathing and to shoot accurately in peculiar underwater conditions. The angler needs uncommon dexterity and great agility. Hunting underwater requires special gear. The angler, swimming underwater, looks out for prey and then strikes it with a shot from a special gun. These guns fire small harpoons or spears that remain in the body of the fish. The hunter pulls the shot prey toward himself by a thin harpoon line attached at one end to the shaft and at the other to a reel on the gun.

The hunter-angler has to carry out deep underwater reconnaissance, search out fish, and lie in underwater ambush. He must be able, maneuvering underwater, to take up the most advantageous position relative to the target and strike it accurately. Not infrequently the hunter enters into a real underwater duel with a large wounded fish. All this requires persistent training and an excellent knowledge of underwater hunting techniques. But underwater hunting generously rewards its enthusiasts! What could be more pleasant than hauling ashore, after a stubborn underwater struggle, a large, accurately shot fish! It is hard to put into words the novelty and uniqueness of the sensations of a hunter pursuing a fish with his gun "at the ready" in the underwater depths, or waiting in ambush for a large fish to appear. The amazing beauty of the underwater world opens up before a person's eyes.

At the beginning of 1556, our cinemas showed on wide screens the French color documentary film "20 Minutes Under Water". It was interesting because a significant part of the footage was shot in the sea, underwater. Viewers made a fascinating journey among rocks entirely covered by a whimsical forest of never-before-seen blue, pink and reddish-brown algae, saw on the bottom the remains of long-lost ships, and could see for themselves that swimming underwater, with a small supply of oxygen in tanks on one's back, has become accessible even to teenagers.

Underwater hunting is also of great importance from a scientific point of view. As experience shows, ichthyologists make use of information from underwater hunters and make significant corrections to their works. Thus, apart from purely sporting interest, underwater hunting is also very important in the study of the life of fish, which is especially necessary for our country, all of whose riches, on land and in the water, belong to the people. In our country underwater hunting is in its infancy. The first underwater anglers appeared here on the Dnieper. In June и55 the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" (╧ 150) published a report about them, describing this fascinating sport as follows: "The mirror-smooth surface of the Dnieper is calm; only occasionally do barely noticeable rings spread across the surface, the trace of a playing little fish. Suddenly some strange round object crowned with little horns appears from under the water. From afar it resembles a floating mine. But what is this? Near the object two arms appear. They row with sweeping strokes. And now a man in swimming trunks comes out onto dry land. On his head is a horned rubber mask with a large porthole, through which the smiling eyes of a young sportsman can be seen. On his feet are wide fins of dense rubber, exactly like a frog's hind legs. On his hands are short rubber gloves with webbing between the fingers. The emerged "water sprite" holds a meter-long aluminum tube with a grip resembling a pistol grip. Another minute, and the man throws himself into the water again, swims, then dives and disappears into the depths. About fifteen minutes later he climbs ashore again. In the sportsman's hand is a big three-kilogram bream, impaled on a steel harpoon shaft". This sport is very interesting and deserves wide popularity among the sport anglers of our country, especially among young people. * * * S. Dashkevich, Yu. Karpechenko

EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUE OF UNDERWATER HUNTING

Advice to the beginning hunter-angler (based on foreign press materials)

The underwater hunter's equipment. The underwater hunter's equipment is simple. It consists of a mask with a breathing tube for breathing underwater, or a self-contained helmet (a light diving suit) with a tank of compressed air, a speargun with a supply of harpoons or spears, and fins worn on the feet. Among the auxiliary equipment used abroad for underwater hunting, one should mention loaders for spearguns, floating knives and daggers, fish stringers of various designs, underwater hunting belts with pockets and small carabiners for spare harpoons and spears, spare bands for the underwater crossbow, portable depth gauges and echo sounders, waterproof cases for watches and compasses, underwater cartridge belts (if a cartridge-loaded gun is used), and more. To ensure safety during underwater hunting, special suits and vests are used that allow the equipment to be dropped quickly if necessary, as well as rescue shoulder floats inflated in an emergency with compressed carbon dioxide from small capsules, and more.

Underwater masks.

Underwater masks are designed so that the hunter can breathe in the water. Spearfishing masks used abroad are now fitted not with goggles, as before, but with a single, usually round, viewing glass. This is because using binocular goggles in masks has been found to harm the eyesight. By the design of their breathing tubes, masks fall into two types: masks in which the hunter breathes through the nose while the mouth stays free, and masks in which the breathing device covers both the mouth and the nose. Masks are fitted with one or two breathing tubes, either led up above the swimmer's head or placed on both sides of it. The mask is held on the head by a strap round the back of the head. In the early types of mask the inlet of the breathing tubes was left open, so that when diving deeper than the length of the tubes, water poured into them and had to be blown out; nowadays this drawback has been eliminated in most designs produced abroad, and masks are fitted with an automatic valve that shuts off the breathing tube as soon as its inlet goes under water.

As for self-contained helmet-type diving suits of the light-diver kind, they give the hunter far more freedom of action in spearfishing than masks with breathing tubes. Using light-diving helmets, one can hunt at depths of 25, 30 and more metres, staying under water for several hours. However, for safety reasons the use of these helmets for spearfishing is banned in a number of countries. Fins boost the action of the swimmer's legs, letting him swim at high speed and cover long distances under water. This matters a great deal, since a hunter using a mask rather than a self-contained helmet (and most do) has no more than a minute to hunt at a depth greater than the length of the breathing tube. Even so, some hunters prefer to do without fins, explaining that fins tire the legs badly during a long hunt (especially if they are made of a material that is not flexible enough).

The fins used abroad come in two types: with a sole running the full length of the foot, and with a shortened sole that leaves the swimmer's heel bare. Fins are made of rubber, plastics and light metal.

Spearguns.

Of the foreign speargun designs, the most widespread are underwater crossbows fitted with an elastic band, and guns powered by a spring that is stretched or compressed. There are also guns, common in the USA, with sealed barrels, loaded with a cartridge containing an explosive charge or gas under high pressure. Recently the foreign press has mentioned underwater jet-propelled guns and hydraulic spearguns. The usual length of a speargun is 140-160 cm, but there are shorter ones too (110-115 cm). For hunting in underwater grottoes and in the crevices of underwater rocks, shortened guns (underwater pistols) are used. For hunting large fish and for shooting over long distances under water, special heavy-duty spring guns are used, fitted with a super-compressor and 2 metres long. For night spearfishing there are special guns fitted with a light source powered by a battery attached to the gun. Spearguns usually have a lightweight shoulder rest or simply a hook at the rear, and a pistol-type grip with a trigger mechanism in the middle. Supporting wrist straps for the right hand are used. To lighten the guns when submerged, they are sometimes fitted with hollow air-filled tubes. The killing range when shooting a speargun under water varies, depending on the type of gun, from 1.5-2 to 6-7 metres.

Projectiles.

The projectiles used in spearfishing are harpoons or spearheads mounted on a shaft about a metre long. Shafts are usually made of stainless steel or aluminium. Steel shafts are considered more effective, since, having greater inertia in flight, they have greater penetrating power. Harpoons are usually used for hunting large fish, and multi-pronged spearheads for smaller fish. Spearheads are made with two, three or more prongs (up to seven). How to prepare yourself for spearfishing. To become a spearfisher you don't need any exceptional physical attributes; you just need to be a perfectly healthy person with normal lungs, heart, eyesight and nervous system.

Women can take up spearfishing too. Abroad there are many sportswomen who go spearfishing regularly. What should a sportsman know when preparing for spearfishing? First of all, he must get to know his gear in detail and learn to use it with ease. The condition of the mask and breathing tube must be checked with particular care. Before entering the water, you must check that the mask and breathing tube are intact and that the shut-off valve works. In training, special attention should be paid to using the mask with the breathing tube. A spearfisher must fully master the rhythm of breathing through the tube and make it completely automatic. Without developing a breathing rhythm, an angler entering the water will be more concerned with his breathing than with the hunt.

Training with a mask and respirator is done first on land, and then, once the athlete has learned to breathe evenly and without effort, training continues in the water (the angler stands on the bottom, submerged head and all). Only after these stages have been completed can the trainee make a first trial swim in the mask. If the mask has no "safety valve", the hunter must learn during training to match the depth of his dive to the height of the breathing tubes, since otherwise water will get into the tubes. If the respirator is fitted with a valve, the hunter is spared from having to worry about this, since the valve will immediately close the opening when the tube goes under water. Using self-contained diving helmets requires the underwater hunter to have at least basic diver training, which must be completed under the guidance of an instructor experienced in diving. Diving is the most critical and difficult part of underwater hunting. Before starting to hunt, you need to practise the various diving techniques properly. The diving techniques most widespread among underwater hunters abroad for searching for or pursuing prey are the vertical descent, the gentle diagonal descent and the descent to a shallow depth in an upright position. The vertical descent is used mainly when the fish is directly below the hunter at a relatively shallow depth. Plunging swiftly straight down, the hunter strikes the target. If the hunter has plenty of time for manoeuvring under water, he can use the calmer diagonal descent. We will not go into diving technique in detail here. It does not differ fundamentally from ordinary diving techniques, and if you wish, you can study it with the help of the manuals available on the subject.

An underwater hunter must be able to handle a speargun with ease and know how to load it both on land and in the water. On land, spring-powered spearguns and crossbow-type spearguns can be loaded in two ways. In one method, the butt of the gun is braced against the ground and, holding it with one hand, you insert the spear into the barrel with the other and "push it home". In the other method, the spear inserted in the barrel is braced against the ground, and it is pushed home by pressing with your hand on the rear of the gun. In the water, spearguns are loaded as follows. If the depth is shallow and the gun can be braced against the bottom, it is stood upright, held with one hand and the legs, while the other hand inserts the spear and pushes it home. If the depth does not allow the gun to be braced against the bottom, it is held at an angle in a floating position with the legs and one hand, while the other hand inserts the spear and pushes it home. In both cases the loader's head is above the surface of the water. When loading guns with a cartridge, the cartridge is put in first, and then the spear is inserted into the barrel. Underwater hunters usually use a loader, since this simple device makes loading easier and quicker, especially in the water. The loader is a small crosspiece (they come in various shapes) that fits onto the spear and gives your fingers something to push against when pushing it home. You can make a loader yourself. An underwater hunter needs to learn to use fins, which doesn't always come right away. When swimming with fins, you must not flail your legs about. Chaotic fin movements create noise in the water and send up a cascade of air bubbles that scare the fish away. Besides, with chaotic movements the angler's legs tire quickly.

Basic underwater hunting techniques.

The spearfishers well known abroad, Dukan, Diolé, Rogi and others, recommend the following underwater hunting techniques. If the hunter is not familiar with the body of water, the hunt should be preceded by a survey of the intended hunting area. The purpose of the survey is to find out the profile of the shore, as well as the nature of the bottom, the depth, whether there are shallows and underwater vegetation, and so on. If the depth is shallow and the bottom is clearly visible, the survey is carried out without diving. The hunter swims in his mask with his head in the water and scans the bottom. If the depth is great or the water is not clear enough, the hunter dives to look at the bottom up close. The area has been surveyed. Now the hunter knows where to look for prey and what kind. Here is a sandbank where you can find a ray or another fish that prefers a sandy bottom. Over there, off to the side, are beds of seaweed where plenty of prey can turn up. Closer to the shore are rocks and stones, among which fish also hide. The hunter searches for fish, peering intently into the depths through the faceplate of his mask. Directly below him on the sandy bottom the hunter makes out the outline of a fish buried in the sand. It's a ray: the black beads of its eyes glint from under the sand. Without wasting a second, the hunter dives and, before reaching the bottom, shoots the ray from above, hitting it with the spear in the middle of its body. In this case, shooting the ray from above while descending straight onto it was exactly the right technique. But this is far from the only shooting technique in underwater hunting, and it is far from suitable in all conditions. Techniques for stalking and shooting fish are very varied and depend a great deal on exactly what fish is being hunted. Here is how Gilbert Dukan describes hunting the large red mullet, which in the Mediterranean Sea reaches 50-70 cm:
"I usually found red mullet at depths of 1.8 to 4.5 metres. It keeps mostly to rocky bottoms or to seaweed beds. Hunting red mullet takes patience and persistence. This fish is very wary and easily spooked, but it calms down quickly. The hunter, staying at a distance at first, must get the fish used to his presence. Sitting motionless, he watches the fish swim about unhurriedly, grazing in the seaweed. Seizing a suitable moment, the hunter, hiding behind a rocky barrier, approaches the prey. The red mullet is as untroubled as before. Seizing the moment when the fish is rooting in the sand, the hunter shoots from the shortest range".

It follows from this description that a hunter needs to know the habits of all the fish he hunts and adapt to those habits. Foreign hunters believe that the most vulnerable parts of a fish are the head, the base of the tail fin, and also the lateral line organs. A hit to the head usually kills the fish, a hit to the spine area deprives the fish of mobility and the ability to resist, and wounds in the area of the lateral line organs upset the fish's overall coordination of movement. Fish are shot from different positions, depending on which part of the fish's body is exposed to the shot. It is most advantageous to shoot a fish in the side. Shooting a fish from the front, even at the shortest distance, is difficult, since in this position the fish presents a target of very small size. Shooting from above into the back is advantageous only for rays, flounder and other flat fish, and also for crabs. Shooting into the belly is rare, and this technique is used only on a swimming ray or some other fish if it happens to be above the hunter.

When hunting fish with large, tough scales (lobia, carp, etc.), the hunter must shoot at an angle of 45° so that the shaft does not glance off the scales. At a swimming fish one must shoot with a lead, just as in ordinary shooting. Foreign specialists claim that in underwater fish hunting the hunter, in terms of maneuvering when approaching the prey, has greater possibilities than in hunting game or birds on land. At first glance this claim may seem paradoxical, but in essence it is true. Having shot a fish, the angler pulls in the harpoon line with the catch, and he can do this either with the reel or by hand. The catch must be pulled in quickly, since a wounded fish can tangle the harpoon line or even break it. Freeing the harpoon or spear from the body of the struck fish is a rather troublesome business. To free a deeply embedded spear, a knife is usually used, making cuts at the prongs of the spear.

For easier removal of harpoons, the cuts are made detachable. Some underwater hunters use special shafts – "scissors" – which are easily removed from the body of the struck fish. Is underwater hunting dangerous? Underwater hunting in itself is safe. This is convincingly proven by the experience of numerous foreign sportsmen who have been engaged in underwater hunting for 5-!0 years in a row without any accidents and without being exposed to any dangers. But while safe in itself, underwater hunting makes strict demands on sportsmen with regard to unconditional observance of the rules of hunting and its regime. If these rules are broken through ignorance or carelessness, hunting underwater becomes dangerous. Dangers can arise from the following causes:
1) violation of the proper physiological regime of underwater hunting, especially with regard to breathing;
2) not knowing which inhabitants of the aquatic environment can pose a danger, and what kind;
3) unskilled and careless choice of a hunting spot;
4) careless handling of the underwater weapon. Let us give a few examples.

If an inexperienced or careless hunter who cannot regulate his breathing gets carried away and, chasing prey, dives too deep and stays underwater too long, he may bring on himself unpleasant consequences that are dangerous to his health (bleeding from the nose and ears, fainting, cramps, heart disorders, pulmonary emphysema). If the hunter does not know which kinds of aquatic inhabitants can pose a danger, he may get serious burns from a stinging jellyfish (Rhizostoma), painful, slow-healing wounds from a stingray (sea cat), or venomous stings from a scorpionfish (sea ruff) or a weever. Carelessness in choosing a hunting spot can lead to the underwater hunter falling into an underwater cave, getting stuck between rocks, getting tangled in fishing nets, etc. To avoid ending up in such a situation, the hunter must know how to choose a safe fishing spot and keep well away from fishing nets, traps, hydraulic structures and the like. The underwater weapon must be handled with the utmost care, and the barrel of the gun must never be pointed at oneself or at others. A speargun is far from a harmless thing, and it can inflict serious wounds on a person. Nor should one forget that on land a speargun shoots much farther than in water (up to 20-30 meters and more). By keeping to the proper hunting regime and showing vigilance and caution, the underwater hunter can avoid all these troubles. There are many frightening stories about sharks and octopuses, but these stories usually contain great exaggerations.

In our waters (in the Sea of Japan) octopuses do occur, but they pose no danger to the underwater hunter. The octopus is cowardly and avoids the hunter. When accurately struck in the head with a dagger or harpoon, it easily becomes the underwater hunter's prey. As for sharks, the relatively small so-called spiny dogfish that lives in the Black Sea poses no danger. When hunting this shark, however, one must be careful, since it can inflict painful wounds with its fin spines. The larger porbeagle found in Far Eastern waters is also not frightening to an experienced hunter. Gilbert Doukan, in his book on underwater hunting, tells of his repeated encounters with sharks in the Mediterranean Sea. These encounters in every case ended perfectly well, since the sharks paid no attention whatsoever to Doukan. Encounters with sharks also ended well for another well-known underwater hunter and photographer, Hans Hass. It would be worth testing here the little device described in the English press for protecting swimmers from sharks. It consists of two folding electrodes powered by a battery, which create an electric field around the swimmer that scares the shark away. The device is very portable and fits into a small bag hung from the swimmer's belt. ----------

Note: the illustrations are taken from J. Aldridge's book "The Undersea Hunting for Inexperienced Englishmen". Opportunities for spearfishing in the USSR. The Soviet Union's vast coastline and numerous inland waters create favourable conditions for the development of spearfishing. Many of our waters are exceptionally rich in valuable fish species. However, spearfishing is not possible in every region of the country: it depends on climatic conditions and on the characteristics of the waters themselves, mainly their temperature regime and water clarity. Given the variety of climates across the vast territory of the USSR, the water temperature of our waters varies, and in addition it changes considerably over the course of the year.

Only those waters that are sufficiently warmed during the warm season are suitable for spearfishing. You can hunt wherever you can swim without harm to your health. As is well known, medical advice recommends swimming at water temperatures above 18°. Most waters of the central belt and the southern waters reach this temperature during the warm season. How long this period lasts depends on the geographical location of the body of water and on the weather. On the Black Sea, for example, this season usually lasts about five months, while in the Moscow region it lasts only half that time. The hunting season at sea coincides with the swimming season, while in inland waters it is somewhat shorter because of the way the water warms up. Naturally, the spearfisher, unlike a swimmer, has to wait until the warming of the water reaches a certain depth. In lakes and reservoirs the warming usually affects only the upper layer, beneath which a layer of cold water remains, and at the boundary between these layers there is a sharp temperature drop of several degrees. The layer of water in which this sharp change in temperature occurs is called the "thermocline". When the thermocline lies close to the surface, spearfishing becomes impossible. This hampers the development of spearfishing not only in our lakes and reservoirs but also on the Baltic Sea. Water clarity is another important condition that determines the success of a hunt. Poor clarity makes it hard to find fish and to make a good shot.

As a rule, the hunter must be able to see the bottom. For this reason, in waters with low clarity the depth, and consequently the area, of the hunting grounds will be smaller. Water clarity depends on the amount of foreign particles in the water. During rainy periods, when runoff from the shore increases, during rough seas, and also when phytoplankton and zooplankton develop, it drops sharply. Water clarity is conventionally defined as the limit of visibility of a white disc (with a standard diameter of 30 cm) lowered into the water. When the water clarity is said to be, for example, 6 m, this means that in that body of water a disc lowered to a depth of more than 6 m cannot be seen from the surface. In the Mediterranean Sea, where spearfishing is most successful, water clarity is very high, reaching 20-60 m.

Water clarity in the seas and inland waters of the USSR varies. For some lakes of the USSR it is characterised by the following figures: Lake Teletskoye - up to 22 m, Lake Valdai - up to 5.5 m, Lake Turgoyak - up to 12 m, Seliger - up to 3.5 m, Lake Pereslavl - up to 8.5 m. Many lakes and reservoirs have low water clarity in summer. For example, in Lake Beloye, near Kosino station outside Moscow, water clarity in summer drops to 0.6-0.8 m. Most rivers also have low water clarity. Because of this, the opportunities for hunting in these waters are very limited. In the Black Sea, water clarity reaches 20-30 m in places, and in the Aral Sea 24 m. The waters of the Sea of Japan are also highly transparent. In the coastal zone of these seas water clarity is somewhat lower, but even there it is more than sufficient for successful spearfishing. In the Caspian and especially in the Sea of Azov water clarity is lower, but hunting here is quite possible. The most favourable conditions for spearfishing can be found on the Black Sea, where the southern sun and warm, clear water combine with a rich coastal fauna and flora. The hunting season here can last from mid-May to early October.

The water temperature of the Black Sea at times reaches 28° at the surface, and 21.7° at a depth of 50 m. The surface layer of water is warmest in August. The average water temperature at this time is 24.4° near Batumi, 23.3° in the Kerch Strait area, 22.2-23.2° off the southern coast of Crimea, 22.8° off Cape Tarkhankut, 21.6° near Odessa, and 22.2° in the Dnieper Estuary. The Black Sea is home to 167 species of fish, many of which can become the spearfisher's quarry. In coastal waters, among rocky scree and cliffs overgrown with seaweed, the spearfisher finds himself in a peculiar land of "unfrightened game". Large numbers of fish live here whose names seem to have predetermined their role in spearfishing. Fish such as the "quail", the "hazel grouse", the large "hazel grouse" - the petropsaro, as well as other fish of the wrasse family, are the spearfisher's most frequent catch.

Constant encounters with mullet, sea bream and the scorpionfish, or sea ruffe, and frequent encounters with picarel, garfish, the gurnard (sea robin) and larger fish will make the hunting very varied. The hunter's catch may include fish such as the light (shi) drum, which grows to more than 1 m in length and 32 kg in weight, and the brown meagre, 50 cm long and weighing 3-4 kg, as well as two species of Black Sea sharks up to 1.5 m long. Flounder and sole, which live in areas with a sandy bottom, make a good catch. The larger turbot (weighing up to 15 kg), which is common in the Black Sea, usually stays at depths of more than 20 m in summer and is out of the hunter's reach. Its juveniles, up to 17 cm long, are found near the shore. Quite often, especially near sandy beaches, you may come across large rays: the thornback ray, which reaches more than 1 m in length, and the dangerous stingray, which in some cases grows to enormous size (up to 2.5 m). You may also meet the monkfish, a predatory bottom fish up to 1.5 m long. This predator usually buries itself in the sand and lies there in ambush, waiting for its prey, other smaller bottom fish. Schools of fast sea fish may turn up in coastal waters: horse mackerel, mackerel, bonito, and sometimes tuna chasing small fish. The tuna is a very large fish, in some cases reaching 3 m in length and 600 kg in weight. In the practice of spearfishing abroad, tuna are rarely taken, although this fish is often found in areas where spearfishing is popular.

In the Black Sea, the most valuable sturgeon species are the beluga, which reaches several metres in length, the sturgeon, up to 2 m long, the stellate sturgeon and the ship sturgeon. Because of hydraulic construction on the rivers where sturgeon spawn, the conditions for the natural reproduction of their stock have worsened. Commercial fishing for these fish is carried out with particular care, taking the state of their stocks into account. At the same time, large and complex work is being done on their artificial breeding. Hunting these fish should apparently be banned. This must be taken into account when drawing up spearfishing rules. Such rules must be drawn up without fail. In the Black Sea, besides the sea fish listed above, the spearfisher will be able to take large crabs. He will find the beautiful shells of the large rapa whelk and may find himself in the company of dolphins. Dangerous encounters are also possible. Out of ignorance or carelessness, you can get into serious trouble with the weever, a small fish no more than 30 cm long, armed with dangerous venomous spines. This little fish stays on the bottom and usually buries itself in the sand. The scorpionfish has a hard venomous ray in its dorsal fin, connected to a special gland that secretes venom. The swordfish, which is found in the Black Sea, poses a certain danger. There are known cases when a swordfish, moving at a speed of about 100 km/h, pierced with its sword not only boats but also the copper-sheathed oak planking of ships.

Spearfishing may become widespread on the Sea of Azov, the Caspian and the Aral Sea. The long hunting season and the abundance of valuable fish species, chiefly large anadromous and semi-anadromous fish such as bream, carp, pike-perch, sturgeon and others, will give hunting in these waters a character all its own. In the Sea of Azov the hunter will meet numerous gobies and sea fish: the large turbot, mullet, garfish and others, and in the southern part of the sea there may even be bonito, mackerel and even tuna. Large herds of dolphins can also often be seen here. In the less salty parts of the Caspian, you may encounter various freshwater fish, among them giant catfish and pike. Along the Caspian coast there are gobies, mullet and herring, and occasionally the Caspian seal may turn up here too. The Aral Sea, with its clear water, will offer the hunter exceptional opportunities for scouting fish and for underwater observation.

Excellent conditions for spearfishing exist in the Far East off the coast of the Sea of Japan, including around Vladivostok. Despite the relatively late and short swimming season, which lasts less than three months here, the southern part of the Far Eastern Primorye is one of the best spearfishing grounds. The picturesque shores of the Sea of Japan are indented with rocky bays and covered with thickets of wild vegetation. The coastal zone of the sea is densely populated with multicoloured sea urchins and starfish. Here you will find large molluscs and sea cucumbers, and beds of red algae, kelp, eelgrass, sargassum and other remarkable seaweeds. Octopuses live in the crevices of underwater rocks, and large velvety-green swimming crabs armed with powerful claws hide in the eelgrass. The fish of the coastal waters include the spiny dogfish, several species of rays, mackerel, sea pike-perch, Japanese scorpionfish, greenlings, gobies, including the large yaok sculpin (up to 70 cm long), bizarre brightly coloured agonomals and other poachers, numerous flounders (averaging 40 cm long), occasionally huge tuna, the salmon shark and many others.

Here the underwater hunter will find large, rich prey. Spearfishing in the inland waters of the Soviet Union is no less exciting than hunting at sea, although the conditions can sometimes be more difficult. On a warm summer day, during the hours of "dead no-bite", the underwater angler-hunter can inspect the bream holes he knows well and the quiet backwaters inhabited by pike, ide, perch, tench and other large fish. It is fascinating to dive "headfirst into the pool" and see life under water with your own eyes, and to choose your prey to your liking. Even short excursions under water will reveal many secrets of fish life to the angler-hunter. Following spearfishing, underwater tourism and underwater photography will develop in our country. It must be admitted that we have fallen seriously behind a number of foreign countries in developing underwater hunting as a sport. One sometimes hears the strange opinion that spearfishing is a very expensive sport. This opinion, however, is profoundly mistaken. Spearfishing is by no means a sport for the select few. It is accessible to the broadest sections of the population, and among spearfishers abroad there are working men and women, students, writers, and people of science and the arts.

For underwater hunting to become widely developed in our country, it is necessary that the sports organisations charged with directing mass sport and sport fishing here take up this matter in earnest. An enormous role in spreading spearfishing belongs to the Komsomol. Our public health authorities need to devise a system of medical supervision and monitoring of spearfishers: establish a procedure for initial and repeat medical examinations, and define the set of health requirements for persons wishing to take up this sport. It is also necessary to develop a system of measures to ensure the safety of spearfishing. Consideration should be given to introducing for spearfishers a special, periodically renewed licence granting the right to hunt underwater. The main thing currently holding back the development of spearfishing in the USSR is the lack of equipment. Work on producing domestic equipment has begun, but it is moving very slowly, and this equipment is still not widely on sale across the country. This matter should be accelerated. In addition to the basic equipment, i.e. the speargun, masks and fins, it is necessary to begin producing such items of auxiliary equipment widely used abroad as portable depth gauges and echo sounders, waterproof cameras, waterproof cases for watches and compasses, insulating suits made of sponge rubber, belts for spearfishers, etc. In addition to these items, prototypes must be developed and production started of rescue equipment: quick-release vests, shoulder pads inflated with carbon dioxide in an emergency, etc. The sporting public of the Soviet Union is showing great interest in spearfishing. There is no doubt that in the near future spearfishing will gain general recognition here and become a popular mass sport. RECOLLECTIONS OF AN AMERICAN SPEARFISHER The July 1955 issue of the magazine "Popular Science", published in New York, carries a curious article written by Wesley S. Griswold from the words of the sport angler Homer J. Lockwood. It tells of the adventures of this spearfisher, who already has considerable experience. Homer J. Lockwood hunts underwater in the Gulf of California of the Pacific Ocean. Since he is not only a passionate angler but also a photographer, he was able to illustrate his story with photographs taken underwater. In some of the photographs we see a man swimming underwater without any suit, "in his own skin", as Lockwood puts it. Rubber fins resembling goose feet are attached to his feet. On his face is a small rubber mask with a large eyepiece that lets the swimmer see quite widely around him without exposing his eyes to seawater. Below the eyepiece a backward-bent exhaust tube for exhaled air comes out. In the swimmer's hands is a simple device for launching a harpoon, which Lockwood calls a "spear gun". In other photographs the sportsman is shown in a rubber suit with a camera in his hands. Here is the record of Homer J. Lockwood's story: "I spend all my free time underwater. Every Saturday and Sunday, all year round, I go diving without a diving suit, 'in my own skin'. I'm 46 years old and the father of three children. I work as a manager in Los Angeles. Most people would probably think that a man my age would be better suited to playing golf or cards. Diving, they would say, is child's play.

Diving without a diving suit is the most fascinating sport I have ever taken up. And I only took it up four years ago. A healthy body, a good heart and a willingness to put up with a few inconveniences for the sake of a wonderful time - that is all it takes. How many times have seals, frolicking about, scratched me and poked their snouts into me, and had they wanted to, they could have torn me in half! I have been bitten by an octopus too (and it was all my own fault!). Once, at a great depth, a 92-pound fish that I had speared thrashed in a rage and raced off, dragging me along behind it like a clump of seaweed. But I don't give up. The sport is safe as long as you follow a few very simple rules and never lose your head. In my time I was a keen angler: I fished both with a rod and with a spinning rod. But how much more interesting it is to get close to the fish yourself! After all, I can track down a most interesting species of fish, lie in wait for it and, if I'm lucky, hit it with a "spear gun". That's not like sitting and waiting for the fish to get itself onto your hook. For many years I was also into photography, and that came in handy. I built a waterproof housing myself and mounted an exposure meter inside it and a depth gauge outside. I have two Leicas with interchangeable lenses. I load one of them with ordinary film, the other with colour film. When I set out to take underwater pictures, I take both of them with me, screwing one inside my transparent housing and taking the other along in the boat or in a suitcase. You can't imagine what a pleasure it is to photograph extraordinary, amazing scenes underwater! ...In the dead of winter, when the sea temperature even off the coast of Southern California drops to 50° (Fahrenheit) - water like that just makes your blood run cold - I put on two wool sweaters and long trousers under my rubber suit. Over the suit I put on one more sweater - not to keep warmer, mind you, but so as not to cut the suit on the sharp rocks. Under such circumstances, I think, it's no longer right to talk about "skin diving". So it's best to call it "sport diving". After all, even in summer I sometimes dive in a rubber suit! When we reach calm water in one of the many small coves of Catalina Island, I drop anchor and start getting ready to go into the water. You have to put on a mask with a snorkel for breathing out, a weight belt (it has about 5 pounds of lead in it and is meant to overcome the body's buoyancy) and rubber fins on your feet.

These fins considerably increase the swimmer's speed and free his hands - he can calmly handle the "spear gun" and the camera. For underwater fishing I take along a spear gun powered by rubber bands. True, it doesn't hit as hard as the other type of this gun, powered by compressed air. But its striking force is 120 pounds, which is quite, quite enough to kill a fish weighing up to '100 pounds *.

If I'm going out just for photos, then I take one of the two cameras and put it in the waterproof housing. Besides that, I always take along an inflated inner tube and, if possible, a buddy: both are necessary for safety. While you're diving, your buddy keeps watch on shore, and then you take over from him and keep watch while he dives. You absolutely have to have somewhere to rest in case something unexpected happens: say the suit suddenly fails you or you get too tired. That's exactly where the rubber inner tube comes in. You dive, and it just floats along up top. In two minutes it won't drift far, and you won't stay underwater longer than two minutes anyway. "Two minutes? What's the fun in staying underwater for two minutes?" And it's true, it seems incredibly short. But an experienced marksman on a range can fire 25 shots in two minutes, and accurate shots at that! And in the sea, in two minutes I manage to go down 30 feet, aim the camera at whatever interests me, take four pictures and surface. Or I manage to spot and catch a 15-pound lobster, or sneak up on and spear an excellent fish. Once I happened to photograph a seal. Later, when I remembered it, I even found it funny: the seal went up for a gulp of air three times, and I didn't once **. Of course, if the water is cold, I can't stay down there even a minute. The cold saps your strength, your head goes numb and stops working properly. In summer, though, when it's warm, you can stay underwater much longer. You can even go down to a depth of 55 feet if you see something so interesting that you forget about the unpleasant effect of the heavy pressure. A friend of mine, who also dives without a diving suit, even dived to a depth of 80 feet. The thing is, he dropped his brand-new spear gun into the water, which he had paid 30 dollars for, and decided to get it back no matter what. True, afterwards he felt so exhausted that it took him two days to rest up and recover. * This refers to the English pound, equal to 454 g. ** Apparently this was a coincidence. The Caspian seal can stay underwater for more than 6 min. - Editor's note.

Diving at night is especially fascinating. A few people take part in this sport off the coast of Southern California. I dive with a waterproof flashlight. It's a great way to catch lobsters, by the way. They come out of their holes at night to hunt for food. Our favorite spot is near Redondo Beach. There's a sunken pier there, and the pilings are some 15-20 feet below the surface. That's exactly where the lobsters sit, staring at the electric light, as if they were waiting for you on purpose. There are dangerous animals in the waters of our California bay, but not the ones people write and talk about so often. Sharks, for example, never come close. Octopuses run off as soon as they see us. Once, admittedly, an octopus did bite me. But that was because I had tucked it under my arm and was dragging it to shore. I didn't know its jaw is on the underside. And the bite feels as if you'd been jabbed with a big medical syringe. Moray eels have needles instead of teeth. They usually stay in the holes where the lobsters live. They rarely bite, unless you put your hand straight into their mouth while groping around to grab a lobster. Stingrays aren't dangerous either - just don't step on them when you go into or come out of the water. Some kinds can bend their stinger like a whip, the way scorpions do. Their sting is very painful, but you can always scare them off by kicking your finned feet in the water. Sea urchins with their dark purple spines look like pincushions stuck full of needles. They cling to seaweed and lie in holes, and if you step on them or brush against them, the spines can dig into your^body.

But the riskiest adventure I've had underwater had nothing to do with any of these dangers. Those are easy enough to avoid. I, as they say, went looking for trouble myself. It happened off the coast near Guaymas in Mexico in 1953. I was at a depth of 20 feet and swam up to a huge "broomtail grouper" *. It's considered the ugliest fish in the world. The fish lazily watched me until I was 2-3 feet away from it. And from that distance - I figured it was like shooting fish in a barrel - I fired my speargun. The moment the spear went into it, the monster took off like an express train, and, honest to God, the noise it made was just like an express train - that's how hard it was thrashing the water with its huge tail. The spear held fast, and I was hurtling along after the fish. The fish might have dragged me too far, or I might have had to let go of such a magnificent catch, if I hadn't had a spare line. When the fish jerked, the line started paying out, so I still had 50 feet of line in reserve. Good thing I didn't panic and figured out in time to point myself head up. Finally the fish brought me up to the surface.

I still had to wrestle with it for a long time before I got the 92-pound carcass onto the shore. But now at least I could breathe freely. Once the danger was over, I nearly fainted from exhaustion and the strain I'd been through. And still, I wouldn't turn down an adventure like that even now - that's what sport diving is all about!" Lockwood's story, as is customary in the American press, is aimed mainly at sensation. For example, diving without a diving suit to a depth of up to 80 feet can hardly be recommended under any circumstances... It sounds too much like a tall tale. And underwater fights with octopuses are also quite out of the ordinary. * A member of the sea bass family. Reddish in color. Reaches three meters in length. Of commercial importance. Editor's note. * * * FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF UNDERWATER HUNTING (A chapter from James Aldridge's book "Undersea Hunting for Inexperienced Englishmen")

Some time ago a small book by the well-known writer James Aldridge, "Undersea Hunting for Inexperienced Englishmen", was published in England. The author of books widely known in the Soviet Union - "Signed with Their Honour", "The Sea Eagle", "The Diplomat", "The Hunter" and others - James Aldridge is a passionate sportsman, hunter and angler. In recent years he has been especially keen on underwater hunting, to which he devoted his booklet. It tells how to hunt underwater, how to lie in wait for fish, what equipment you need and how to take care of it. In the preface to his book Aldridge writes: "After the recent flood of books and films about underwater hunting, several hundred thousand Englishmen would like to experience the charm and excitement of this hunting for themselves, but mistakenly believe it is beyond their reach. This book sets out to show these enthusiasts how attainable underwater adventures are for them..." In his book Aldridge describes underwater hunting in the Mediterranean Sea. He puts it plainly: "This is a book for the Englishman with a three-week holiday who can come to the Mediterranean coast, who can swim (at least a little) and who can afford to spend ten or fifteen pounds sterling on gear (a gun, a mask, a snorkel and rubber fins).

The book tells you how and where to look for fish, how to hunt them and how to make the best use of your equipment within just a few days of taking up spearfishing, for without instruction and advice a beginner is unlikely to be a successful fisherman. I also hope that the book will be useful to everyone. But the charm of your own experience, the vivid joy and fascination of this sport, the observation of life under water — everything that becomes yours in that wonderful moment when you put on a glass mask — are beyond compare and beyond description, and are best learned through experience". Aldridge's book, illustrated by the author himself, is divided into several chapters whose titles speak for themselves: "What Is It All About?", "Equipment", "How to Use the Equipment", "Diving", "Fish and Where to Find Them", "Hunting: General Information", "Hunting: Specific Information", "Facts and the Variety of a Spearfisher's Experience", "Additional Equipment and Its Care", "A List of Mediterranean Fish" and "Fish Recipes". Although Aldridge's book is based on material from the Mediterranean and describes the fish of that basin, everything said in it also applies to our southern seas, especially the Black Sea, since most of the fish found in the Mediterranean also live in our Black Sea. As for the hunting technique itself and the equipment, they are the same for all bodies of water — seas, rivers and lakes alike.

That is why Aldridge's book can serve as an extremely interesting and useful guide for our sport fishermen. Here is a translation of a chapter from James Aldridge's book. "More than half the pleasure of underwater fish hunting comes not from the hunting and catching of fish at all. That is why I would like to tell briefly about some adventures and observations and to show what the charm and delight of this sport consist of — a sport that lets you experience unknown sensations in a completely different world, unlike anything else. You really are in another world, a completely different one, from the very moment you put your head under water. This thought will come back to you again and again, and you will never tire of repeating this banality to yourself: "another world, another world..." The leap into another world is amazing not only in the sense that life under water gives new impressions, but also in that this sudden transition from the clear, sharply outlined world of objects, as if existing in a vacuum, to the smooth, measured, viscous underwater world, in which even sharp and vigorous movements are enveloped in a visible thickness, is amazing to the senses. It is precisely this thickness, this viscosity, that matters, and just as Cousteau calls the underwater world the silent world (although it is not all that silent), you will want to call it the viscous world. That is the whole point. Movements and objects exist not in space but in liquid, and this creates a sense of some kind of concentration of everything, of pressure and outline, which the eye grasps only up to certain limits. You will discover that to peer into the depths is to look into captivity rather than into freedom; it is not at all the same as looking into space or into the sky.

And yet, as soon as you are under water, the depth and density surrounding you create an impression of freedom that cannot be compared even with flying through the air, because man has not yet invented wings for his body, while under water he feels himself a winged creature, free in a free element. To dive into the depths and soar upward using no energy other than that of your own legs means the final liberation of the legs from their stubborn attachment to solid ground and the liberation of the body from having to submit to the upright position. Sometimes, returning to land after several hours spent in the water, you will immediately feel like a thumbtack that needs to be stuck in somewhere point down in order to be in its proper place. Simply put, if on land you are bound to the earth by the force of gravity, then under water you are bound to the surface by a bubble of air. The lungs' need for this bubble of air makes the world above water an extremely desirable place, and nothing under water can compare with the physical joy of that first deep breath after you surface. It also reminds you of who you are: a creature that lives on warm gas, not on cold liquids. And so one element complements the other. That is the delight of this sport.

When you are suspended between two worlds, lying face down on the surface of the water, the snorkel becomes your only link with the world: it is as if you hear and feel through this tube, not just breathe through it. For example, the sounds that reach you from above when you swim with your head down in the water are much clearer if they reach your ears through the snorkel: you hear children playing on the beach, the whistle of a locomotive and the noise of a train that seems to be rushing straight at you, the traffic on a nearby road, the buzz of a passing motorboat — you not only hear all these sounds above you, but at the same time you also feel them in the vibrations of the water. They all remind you of the outside world up there. When you go deep underwater, the sense of land disappears, but the sea is not as silent as it might seem. You will hear clicking, grinding, hissing and a kind of constant noise, like the ringing in the ears of deaf people. Underwater any sound, such as the ringing strike of a spear against a rock or the clinking of an anchor chain, becomes a very sharp, metallic, slowly spreading sound that can be heard very far away. The deeper you are, the more impressive the sound seems. One of the most pleasant sounds you will hear when you dive is a glug-glug-glug, like water gurgling as it fills a bottle. You will hear it when the snorkel starts filling with water and pushing the air out. This happens only with a snorkel whose tip is cut straight. By the way, the curved top of the snorkel is cut off so that the water is blown out quickly when you come up to the surface.

A curved snorkel can always hold a little water in the bend, and it will get into your mouth every time you come up. You can tell a real swimmer and hunter right away by a cut-off snorkel, so you should do this too before you move on to hands-on experience.

This is not a diary, but rather a short account of some things that happened to me, or a mention of curious things. They say a hunter sees more than an outside observer, but I have to point out that hunting has its limits. Once I lent my speargun to a friend and swam among the rocks in my favorite spots with just a spear. I poked the spear into every nook and hole and saw what goes on in the rocks much better than when I searched those same rocks for fish with a gun in my hands. A sea urchin gripped by a starfish, or the other way round; an amazing number, variety and coloring of little rock fish I had never noticed before, peeking at me and wagging their little tails like frightened puppies; the coloring of every stone, which takes on a sort of glowing tint underwater; the growth on the rocks in yellow, green and purple tones, and some kind of stripes that looked almost white-hot — that is what I saw. I have a student — Duck Stewart, a young writer, an American, a good swimmer, a tall man. He suffers from asthma. Oddly enough, considering all the things he can't do on land because of his condition, he turned into a very good underwater swimmer. This surprises me, because I thought he would be gasping for breath. "On the contrary," he said, "when a person has asthma, his lungs grow to the size of a horse's, because he has to breathe hard all the time to get enough air. And besides, in the water there's simply a wonderful absence of dust!" Duck went through what all beginners go through, namely, he let out his air too soon when coming up from the depth to the surface and swallowed a lot of seawater. Worse, he got cramps because he had put on fins that were too tight. On top of that, he shot a fish and his numb legs got tangled in the line. The only way out was to tear off his fins and mask, drop them together with the gun, and lie on his back stretching his toes — the only way to get rid of a cramp. He shouted for me to swim over and help him, and I shot off from the shore like a rocket, but he recovered before I reached him. All I had left to do was put on my mask and dive for his gear where he had dropped it. Finding his things was easy, but it was unpleasant for me to see the huge white fins, mask, snorkel and gun scattered across the ocean floor. The headless perch he had shot was slowly swaying underwater. Every year, out of curiosity, I try diving and hunting without fins. A feeling of nakedness — that's the only word that fits, nakedness and helplessness, because my legs seem so bare and powerless without fins that I feel indecent. Whoever has not been among underwater rocks and in caves on the seabed, where the growth on the stones turns them into bright fantastic visions inlaid with diamonds, has not really lived.

To dive (but not too deep, because at a certain depth all colours look blue and green) and lie under a rocky ledge, holding on to it, so absorbed that you almost forget you need to come up to the surface — that feeling can't be put into words. The most vivid colour of all seems to be red: the walls of some caves look like ruby, a glowing, living ruby. But you shouldn't dive into caves alone. Once I found a fairly big cave a few feet under the water. I saw a large grey silhouette as big as me swim into it, which of course means the fish was half that size. And when I dived deeper to look into the cave from the entrance lower down, it turned out to be dark in there and I couldn't see a thing. Meanwhile my fish had gone deep into the cave. I came back the next day and every day after that, each time getting inch by inch further and further into the cave. At last I made my way in; there it was, my Ali Baba's cave, brightly inlaid with reds and greens and some unusual golden-purple colour. My fish, of course, wasn't there, and by that time I didn't quite believe in it myself. After all, big solitary fish don't live in caves, and it wasn't deep enough here for groupers (Groupers). When I wanted to show this cave to Duck, I simply dived and swam into it as far as the size of my body allowed. Duck followed me. He didn't realise I had spent a lot of time exploring the cave, and the way he got straight into it seemed a very simple matter to him. This proves that diving in pairs is better than diving alone.

The presence of one gives the other, if not courage, then at least confidence. A few weeks later Duck, swimming near that cave, started shouting excitedly for me to swim over and look at a fish about my size. I was too late, but from Duck's description I had no doubt it was the very same fish I had seen back then. I think it was just a big bass wandering around the underwater rocks looking for food, and, like all fish, getting frightened of me, it hurriedly hid in the cave, where it found temporary shelter. We never saw it again after that. Duck — by now an expert — and I found another cave near Miramar. We got into it through a big tunnel; at a depth of about six feet we found ourselves in a colossal grotto, then turned off at an angle to the right and swam out upwards through a narrow passage, which was wide enough for me but only just let this young giant squeeze through. It's in caves like these that you should look for lobsters, which hang from the vaults like bats, but there are too few of them left in general, and finding lobsters is a matter of pure luck.

Morays and giant groupers (Groupers) also live at the mouths of caves or in big holes, but these days, if they're there at all, they usually hide and disappear before you get there. Hello, old chap! At the sight of an octopus I'm always seized by fatherly feelings. They're such fun to play with! Once, while hunting mullet, I saw a smallish octopus hiding in an old clay drainpipe about a foot long. There he was, in his own private flat! It occurred to me that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take him ashore along with his little house and show the family. I simply hooked the pipe with my spear and swam off, holding the catch in front of me. The octopus calmly stayed inside, and we looked at each other almost face to face. Unfortunately, I dropped the pipe, and the octopus shot out of it like a rocket. He didn't go far, and I decided to herd him back into the pipe. Unfortunately, nobody saw my tricks, but even the best of sheepdogs couldn't have achieved what I couldn't achieve either, because every time I made the octopus, dancing on his little legs, come close to the pipe, he'd leap over it and rush off anywhere except into the opening.

Once, when I had almost forced him to climb into the pipe, he did a shameful thing — squirted at me and vanished like a smoking bomber. I looked for him in the same pipe the next day, but he had probably preferred a shared flat in the rocks to a private flat in a drainpipe. So he never came back. I notice that shoals of fish mix with each other. This is especially true of dorades (Daurades) and mullet, which often team up for joint action. Red mullet are most often found in pairs, but as soon as you scare them, they join whatever shoal is nearest, as if trying to hide in the crowd. Sometimes they swim with ordinary mullet, falling behind them only for the time needed to feed. On your underwater wanderings you'll often come across spiny black sea urchins clinging to the rocks. If you look at them closely, you'll notice that some have scraps of sea grass or seaweed stuck in their spines and others don't. This is interesting because the ones with grass on them have five coloured glands that are part of their reproductive organ. These fish are a delicacy for the people of the Mediterranean coast. The ones without scraps of sea grass have underdeveloped organs and aren't eaten. The most interesting thing of all is watching sea bass in action.

Off the shores of Teula and Miramar, where I often hunt fish, they usually swim alone. Their lovely quick movements, which they make without any effort, their long, graceful bodies, their professionally useful olive-green colouring — all this marks this fish out as ideal. Almost always you can spot deep scars on sea bass — traces of battles. I have a theory that a lone sea bass swimming near the rocks spends most of its time trying to scrape the lice off its back. It's fascinating to watch a bass, as if playing, swim, shoot upwards, spin, trying to brush against a rock, and you imagine it's practising acrobatics.

On closer inspection, however, the cause turns out to be a black, disgusting thing that latches onto it and sucks its blood (to be honest, I'll say that Duck was the first to notice it). The sea louse (in Latin апНосгй) is a disgusting thing made of high-grade steel rather than flesh and bone. It attaches itself to the fish with hooked legs that are practically unbreakable. When you tear it off the fish, a chunk of flesh comes away along with the louse. On smaller fish the louse can be spotted near the tail fin, which means that the movements of a free-swimming fish are often slowed down by this creature. " тянртгя It really is very touching to watch a little bream 1инси-н behind its companions because a huge louse has settled on its tail. You just want to catch that little fish, rid it of the parasite and give it an equal chance in the struggle for existence. Many lice are very large, and the small fry can't get rid of them, so sooner or later they become too slow to survive, and either some predator devours them or they simply waste away. The latter is my guess.

But back to the sea bass. One stormy day I shot one of these fearless fish as it swam contemptuously past my nose. I hit it with my trident right behind the head. Two jerks from the wounded fish and the nylon line was pulled tight to the limit, a third jerk and the bass tore off the trident and swam away. К и grumbled, and threatened, and chased after it, but the stormy sea was a mess of foam, sand and air bubbles, and the bass didn't even seem to ыл К^отТа" I told Duck what had happened, and I think he^ decided it was the usual "hunting" story about the fish that got away. A few days later, however, he saw that same bass swimming about without a care, despite three clearly visible wounds. I was as pleased as if I'd brought that fish home. You're always looking for, and especially value, that kind of backing for the little adventures that happen to you, when in the evening you tell them to skeptical listeners, your own family A bit more about lice. I've never yet seen one fish clean lice off another. I do notice, though, that the "resident" fish living near the rocks have fewer lice than others. Maybe that's because they spend more time rubbing against the rocks to get rid of this parasite.

Mullet usually don't have lice. Once I saw a mostel (птоэЮИе) (a very good white fish living at great depth) caught in a net. In twelve hours the lice, crabs and other parasites had completely eaten through its body, which looked like Swiss cheese. It had literally been eaten alive. With five or six fish on my fish stringer, I was swimming not far from Teula when I suddenly noticed a little school of small saddled breams following me, some of which were literally devouring a badly mangled bass. I started chasing them off, but they kept after me д