14 GREY MULLET. 



five hours, after which it is pressed between two boards and 

 dried in the sun by day for thirty or forty days, or by some 

 it is dried in smoke. It is supposed to sharpen the appetite, 

 excite thirst, and heighten the relish of wine. 



This fish grows to the length of eighteen or twenty inches, 

 and will sometimes weigh from twelve to fifteen pounds. The 

 body thick and solid, but compressed at the sides, the head 

 wide and flat on the top, compressed on the cheek. In one 

 that measured eighteen inches in length the greatest depth was 

 four inches. Eye moderate, lateral, round, in a line with the 

 angle of the mouth. The gape narrow; jaws equal, the lower 

 bent up at the middle to form a keel, which is received into 

 a cavity in the upper jaw; both jaws are capable of some 

 degree of extension; the teeth so fine that they are not always 

 to be discovered, hair-like, closely set, with their points set in 

 a crenated line. Lips membranous or fleshy, with raised fleshy 

 lines in two rows, except at the symphysis of the upper lip; 

 a slight roughness on the tongue and a small portion of the 

 vomer. The mystache or maxillary bone separate from the 

 fleshy lip, turned back near the eye. The body covered with 

 firm scales, Avhich extend over the cheeks. First dorsal fin 

 begins at about midway between the upper lip and root of 

 the tail, with four firm rays; second dorsal removed from the 

 first by more than the length of the former, with nine rays, 

 the first simple and slight. Anal fin opposite the second dorsal, 

 and rather longer, with eleven rays, of which the third is the 

 longest. Pectoral fin broad and high, with sixteen rays. Six 

 rays in the ventral fin, the first simple. Caudal incurved, with 

 fourteen rays, besides two or three false rays. 



The colour on the back is a dark bottle green, which, when 

 out of the water soon fades into grey; lighter on the sides 

 and belly, with broad lines of a deeper colour running towards 

 the tail, varying, but about seven in number, cheeks and 

 border of the pectoral fin tinged with yellow; iris of the eye 

 dark brown. Large well-marked facial nerves pass forward 

 near the angle of the mouth, to be distributed and aftbrd 

 special sensation to the upper lip and its raised lines. 



