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Mullet. — Mullet in European fish-culture rank next 

 after eels ; India is specially rich in species of this family 

 of fish ; they constitute the most abundant fish found in 

 estuaries and backwaters. In India the rano-e of habitat 

 is greater even than in Europe. Some species remain 

 permanently in rivers, other keep rather strictly to the 

 sea, while the remainder, which specially concern us, 

 enter backwaters and estuaries in immense numbers 

 both as fry and as adults. The most ingenious of the 

 nets used in backwaters, as at Ennore and Pulicat, are 

 designed to capture these wiliest of fish. 



In confinement they exhibit in a large degree the 

 quality of hardiness ; they are easy to feed and will live 

 where most other fishes would die from starvation. 

 They feed largely upon vegetable growth and debris ; 

 at the same time they will feed voraciously upon shoals 

 of small crustaceans when opportunity offers. The 

 general opinion is that mullet with the exception of the 

 species domiciled permanently in fresh waters, spawn in 

 the sea. This I have reason to believe is not the case 

 universally * as I have seen fully grown female mullet 

 ranoqn^ from 18 to 21 inches lon^ taken from Ennore 

 backwater in numbers in the middle of January with 

 fully developed ripe roes. They were always accom- 

 panied by a larger number of males also in ripe condition. 

 As the females were of quite different dimensions to 

 those living in the backwater a month earlier, there is no 

 doubt these fish had entered the backwater from the sea 

 not long previously. A significant fact was that the 

 stomachs of the females were empty ; the stomachs of 

 the males were crammed with a tangled mass of green 

 algae. The former had apparently not entered the back- 

 water to feed ; the inference is strong ; they had entered 

 with intent to spawn. However this may be, it is a 

 matter urgently demanding settlement ; there would be 

 no difficulty in collecting an ample supply of ripe breeders 

 in January at Ennore and Pulicat if it were desired to 

 strip them when ripe and practise artificial fertilization 

 and hatching, procedure which is altogether preferable 

 to depending upon supplies of natural fry whenever a 

 skilled staff is available ; the former svstem allows full 



* In Europe instances are on record of mullet thriving and breeding freely 

 in ponds fed principally by fresh water during the greater portion of the year. 



