386 FISHES. 



[DrummoncV s Echiodon, which has been taken in our 

 seas on one or two occasions, is one of a group of small 

 semi - parasitic fishes that shelter in the folds of large 

 medusse and holothurians. It appears not to exceed a 

 length of 12 inches; and is light brown in colour, hav- 

 ing a tapering tail, a continuous fringe of fins, and no 

 scales.] 



\Coryph(tnoides ruj^estris, which may be placed after the 

 sand-eels, is a small and spinous silvery fish, the body 

 tapering to a pointed tail, the head disproportionately 

 large. Some allied species, all of which inhabit great 

 depths, exceed a length of 2 feet, but the limits of our 

 form are not known.] 



CHAPTER XVI. THE FLAT-FISH. 



These are the most interesting anatomically, and, with 

 the single exception perhaps of the herring family, the 

 most important commercially, of all our sea- fish, differing 

 from the rest in their compressed form, the different 

 colouring of either side, and the twisted head, in which 

 the eyes are on the same side. Hence the fishermen 

 distinguish the rest as "round-fish," though it must be 

 confessed that their classification is lenient, since, in many 

 parts at any rate, the skates and rays, cartilaginous fishes 

 with no resemblance to the present group, are included 

 under the category of " flat-fish." These fish dwell in the 

 sand, burying themselves in it, especially in cold weather, 

 all but the eyes ; but on warm evenings they will rise to 

 the surface, and I have known several instances of their 

 taking a spinning bait a few feet only from the top. 

 With the exception of a single sharp spine over the 



