40 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



specimen, from Lysekil, recorded by Smitt, occurred in 

 August (1873). 



The first specimen of this fish to be carefully described 

 was obtained by a certain Dr Mortimer, at Leith, in the 

 year 1750; and it is related that a West African prince, 

 who happened to see this specimen, recognised it as a species 

 common in his own country, and called it Opah a name 

 which it has ever since borne. According to Risso, it is 

 called in the Mediterranean Pei d' Africa, the African Fish. 

 The latter statement may be worth little as evidence, but 

 we know, besides, that the fish occurs at Madeira (where, 

 according to Lowe, it is common in spring), though rare 

 in the Mediterranean, and that, though not rare in Norway, 

 it has not been found in the Greenland Seas. While it is 

 doubtless generally distributed over the Western Atlantic, 

 its chief home is probably to the southward. But at the 

 same time, when within our British area, it tends to occur 

 on the whole farther to the northward than does the 

 Sun-fish, as we shall see presently. I interpret this to mean 

 that it has a greater tendency to keep to the deep waters, 

 and is so carried past our coasts in the deeper parts of that 

 great European current which we are accustomed to speak 

 of as the " Gulf-stream." 



The King-fish occurs, but very rarely, on the American 

 side of the Atlantic, and is also recorded from the Pacific, 

 from California, and from Japan. In regard to this, it is 

 just an instance of the indefinite distribution of most (if not 

 all) deep-sea fishes. Could we fish steadily at some one 

 spot, for instance off the W. of Ireland, there are few indeed 

 that would not sooner or later come our way. 



Of the habits of the King-fish very little is known, but it 

 is known to feed (like the sperm-whale, the bottle-nose and 

 the caaing-whale) on cuttle-fishes (Day, Grieg, etc.). One 

 of Grieg's specimens was caught in 300 fathoms ; on the 

 other hand, Marion records it from 10 to 25 metres at 

 Marseilles ; and many have been got, in various localities, in 

 shallow water or cast ashore. It is pretty clear that it enjoys 

 a wide range of habitat as regards depth ; but the evidence 

 goes to show that, upon the whole, it is a deep-water fish. 



