378 SUNFISH. 



inertly on its side. It is then approached by the fishermen 

 without alarming it; but if roused it will put forth strenuous 

 efforts to escape. In one instance, when laid hold of with a 

 gaff, it exerted itself so powerfully as but for an accidental 

 hindrance to have drawn a strong man overboard, and the 

 hooked instrument was carried off as the fish dived into the 

 depth. The escape, however, is usually along the surface, and 

 often with swiftness, so that in a case of which I was informed, 

 a rowing-boat was not able to overtake it. But it is not 

 always, and perhaps not often that they are so fortunate as to 

 escape; and when laid hold of it has been often observed that 

 they have uttered sounds which in some instances have been 

 described as like strong and anxious breathing, while other 

 fishermen have compared them to the loud grunting of a hog, 

 a circumstance which is also mentioned by Lacepede. When 

 the eye is touched, and it has been said, when it is only 

 threatened, the ball is drawn backward into the socket, while 

 the mass of cellular membrane that lies at the bottom rises up 

 and covers it. This withdrawal of the eyeball has also been 

 noticed by Lacepede, and is effected by a special organization of 

 muscles fitted to the purpose. A fisherman gave me information 

 of one which he had taken and kept in his own boat for 

 half an hour, after which he threw it again into the sea, and 

 then, to his surprise, it darted away, as he said, with the 

 swiftness of an arrow. 



The food of the Sunfish appears to be diversified. I have 

 learned from William Thompson, Esq., of Weymouth, that a 

 young example, eighteen inches long, was caught with a line 

 in whiffing off the coast of Jersey. On one occasion seaweed 

 was found in the stomach, in another fragments of coralline; 

 and Dr. Cams remarks of one he saw in the Scilly Islands, 

 that it had a barnacle in its mouth; but commonly, however, 

 we find only mucus in the stomach. In England no use has 

 been made of this fish, except that from its singular shape it 

 is sometimes exhibited for show. As food it is not thought 

 of; but a gentleman accustomed to the sea informed me that 

 in the Mediterranean he procured a portion of a large one 

 to be cooked for his table, and he thought it good, in taste 

 much like the common crab. 



The Sunfish reaches to a large size, and the largest I have 



