344 



FISHES. 



Dentex. 



as much as 12 lbs., but in our seas it is rare, confined prac- 

 tically to the south-west coast, where, however, the nets 

 take examples of over 50 lbs. On the Italian 

 coast, we used to fish for it at night, a torch 

 being hung out over the bow, and a hook, dressed with two 

 white feathers and baited with 3 or 4 inches of the tentacle 

 of an octopus, being " dapped " at the surface. In colour, 

 it is bluish, with silver reflections. It has but one dorsal 

 fin ; and the mouth is armed with long curved teeth. 



[According to a correspondent of Harvie - Brown, an 

 example of Holocanthus tricolor, allied to the Australian 

 coral-fishes, was taken off Stornoway some years ago.] 



2. The Red Mullet. 



The Eed Mullet has no connection whatever with the grey 



mullet, from which it is easily distinguished by its smaller 



size, brighter colouring, and stiff "feelers." 



^ ' At first sight it might be taken for a small 



red gurnard. There are two forms of this fish — the striped, 





^\v 



or surmullet, the larger and commoner, and the smaller 

 plain form. Cunningham^ has not found the smaller form 

 at Plymouth. This fish — it suffices for i3resent purposes to 



1 Marketable Marine Fishes, p. 307. 



