THE HORSE-MACKERELS AND THEIR ALLIES. 359 



■ Another occasional wanderer to our waters is the many 

 coloured Opah (otherwise " Sunfish " or " King-fish "), a 

 handsome green-and-red fish, with silvery spots. 

 The lateral line takes a remarkable upward 

 curve above the pectoral, and the head ends in a kind 

 of beak. The skin is exceedingly thick. A specimen of 

 190 lbs. weight was recently taken from the North Sea. 



[The Black-fish, as Couch calls it, and the allied Cen- 

 trolophus hritannicus, are small and rare fish on our coasts, 

 of which little seems to be known. Another rarity in 

 British waters is Ltivarus imperialis, one of which, weigh- 

 ing 120 lbs., is recorded from Cornish waters. It has a 

 bright red band along the side, the back being dark, the 

 belly white, fins bright red. Both dorsal and anal fins 

 extend only a short way from the tail, the foreparts of 

 either margin being finless.] 



CHAPTER VIL THE HOESE-MACKEKELS 

 AND THEIR ALLIES. 



[It is convenient to include in this group not alone the 

 horse-mackerels proper, but also members of a number of 

 families that fall naturally in this place — such aj^parently 

 distinct types as the dory, sword-fish, and hairtails.] 



The only fish of the family that occurs in our seas in 

 any numbers is the typical Scad or Horse-mackerel, shoals 

 Scad or ^^ which visit our south-west coast in summer- 

 Horse- time, though I have more often found it in 

 mackerel, company with the mackerel, joining in keen 

 pursuit of the "mackerel -midge" and other fry. I have 

 taken as many as a dozen in a morning when drift -lining 



