The back fins, very long and sharp, projected two or three inches above water.

July 1. 

July 1, 2016

P. M. — Paddled on the Acushnet. 

Passed through some schools of fishes which were rippling the surface about us in midstream. 

The back fins, very long and sharp, projected two or three inches above water. Walton said afterward that they were menhaden.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 1, 1856

Schools of fishes rippling the surface about us in midstream. See July 9, 1855 (“The surface of the ocean is rippled by fishes, mostly menhaden, far and wide, in countless myriads, such the populousness of the sea.”)