THE BULLHEADS AND GURNARDS. 351 



surface of which is bright blue with rows of black spots. 

 Like the rest, it lives at the bottom, and feeds on crus- 

 Sapphirine taceans and small fishes. Cunningham^ 

 Gurnard alludes to a curious habit which this fish has 

 u - s . ^£ spreading the pectoral fins when alarmed. 



A still larger fish is the Piper, so called from the vocal 

 performances to which, like the rest, it is addicted. It is 

 taken principally in the Channel, though not 

 uncommon farther north. The largest of our 

 gurnards, it grows to a weight of 5 lbs. or more. In colour 

 this gurnard is bright red above, white beneath. It is a 

 more slender fish than the last, lacks the distinguishing 

 blue pectoral fins, and has the edges of the bony plates on 

 the snout strongly serrated. 



The Lanthorn Gurnard, smallest of our true gurnards, 



is recognised by its elongated dorsal fin, after which it 



Lanthorn is called in some parts the " long - finned 



G-urnard. gurnard." It is red in colour, and has a 



bright silver band along the sides. It is said not to 



take a bait. 



In the little Pogge we have a kind of sea -armadillo, 



clad in a suit of impregnable armour. Like the true 



Pogge or bullheads, it is destitute of air-bladder. It 



Armed is regarded as commonest on our east coast, 



^ ^^ ' especially in the neighbourhood of estuaries. 



In colour yellowish grey, with black bands. 



The Beaked Gurnard is another armed fish, scarlet in 

 colour. It is but a straggler in our seas, and may at 

 Beaked once be recognised by the pointed bony pro- 

 G-urnard. jections before the head, beneath which there 

 are filaments, and the large plates of bone with which 

 the body is covered. Like the true gurnards, it has an 

 air-bladder. 



J Marketable Marine Fishes, p. 333. 



