350 FISHES. 



to sink for a moment among the weeds. The flesh, though 

 much eaten, is not remarkable. 



The Eed Gurnard, commonest, and with one exception 

 smallest, of our gurnards, is a red fish with silvery belly, 



Hed or ^^^ lateral line crossed by plate -like scales. 



Cuckoo In the Channel it is particularly common, 

 urnar . ^g-j-^g found in all rocky localities, where it 

 preys on crustaceans. It spawns in May, the spawn 

 floating at the surface. 



The Grey Gurnard, another familiar British fish, lacks 

 the ridge of spines found in the rest of the group, and is 

 Grey grey in colour, having white spots over the 



Gurnard, "back and sides. It is more abundant on the 

 east coast than the last. The females, the j^roportion of 

 which is, according to Dr Fulton, about 4-1, are slightly 

 larger than the males. ^ Day ^ considers this a gregarious 

 fish, but my own experience in the Channel has invariably 

 been to catch at most two or three with as many dozen red 

 gurnards. This, however, has always been in September, 

 and it is quite possible that they are more sociable at the 

 spawning season, about May. On the Galloway coast, I 

 understand, the reverse obtains, and September anglers 

 take a dozen grey gurnards for every red one. 



The Streaked Gurnard has raised red bands down the 

 sides, hence the trivial name. In colour it is deep red on 

 Streaked the back and sides, white beneath, and with 

 Gurnard, blotches on the fins. It is an exceedingly 

 rough fish to handle, owing to the spines along the back 

 and lateral line. By no means one of our commoner fish, 

 it is taken in the trammels on the south coast, rarely, if 

 ever, on the hook. 



The Sapphirine Gurnard is a larger fish. It is easily 

 recognised by the large blue pectoral fins, the lower 

 1 Marketable Marine Fishes, p. 330. - British Fishes, i. 63. 



