CHAPTER V 



THE TRIGGER-FISH OR BALISTES, AND THE 

 ARMOURED FISHES 



Balistes, the scientific name of this fish, makes us 

 think of things quite apart from the fish we are now 

 about to consider. It reminds us of the old Roman 

 ballista, a huge catapult used in sieges, which hurled 

 great projectiles to break down the gates of a city, 

 or make a breach in its walls. It reminds us of the 

 perfection and power of modern artillery, and its 

 principal science, ballistics, whose name is in strict 

 accordance with etymology, its origin being the Greek 

 word ballein which means to hurl. So when we hear 

 of a fish called Balistes, we expect to find a creature 

 whose size or capacity is in keeping with the implica- 

 tions of the word. It is with a certain amount of 

 disillusionment that we discover an animal of medium, 

 even small size, which has nothing whatever about it 

 resembling a catapult except the points of the dorsal 

 fin, which can stand up sharply like arrows. 



If the trigger-fish is somewhat disappointing, when 

 we read its name underneath some dry-looking speci- 

 men in a collection, it is quite a different creature when 

 alive. Its many species are found in every sea, tropical 

 and temperate. One of them, Balistes capriscus, lives 

 in the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic coast of the 

 Iberian peninsula, and even so far north as the gulf 

 of Gascony. Fishermen sometimes find it in their 

 nets, and they call it " pig " or something of the sort, 

 as they often do in the case of clumsy-looking, large- 

 headed fish. We shall not have any difficulty in finding 

 specimens to study. 



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