THE TRIGGER-FISH 



It has a big, oval, flatfish body, compressed at the 

 sides and much higher than it is thick. Instead of the 

 thin garment of scales to which we are accustomed, 

 its whole surface is covered by a compact suit of 

 armour, made up of lozenge-shaped plates like a 

 mosaic. The animal is surrounded and protected by 

 this cuirass, a delicately inlaid coat of mail, which the 

 playing light makes to sparkle with colour. This 

 colour, brownish in general, has gleams of blue and 

 gold, particularly near the back, where the blue tones 

 extend in longitudinal stripes. 



The head is curious. Like the trunk, broad and 

 flat, and armoured also, it has two round eyes and, 

 in front, a little slit of a mouth, framed by thick lips. 

 These lips, almost white in colour, but with borders 

 not unlike our own, stand out from the dark cheeks 

 like the bloodless lips of a corpse; now and again 

 they pucker, contract at the corners in a sort of grin, 

 or open and close, as though the creature were speaking. 

 This almost human resemblance is accentuated when 

 we look at the teeth, long, chisel-like, and set side by 

 side. The fish's appearance is certainly striking, and the 

 fishermen's stories, which always seem to border on the 

 miraculous, have not failed to make the most of it. 



The keel-shaped back has two dissimilar dorsal fins. 

 The first, the relatively short front one, is supported 

 by three strong, sharply pointed rays. It can either 

 lie in a groove round its base, or set itself up quickly 

 when the animal so desires; hence the name Balistes. 

 The second one is behind; much larger, more supple, 

 fixed and not capable of being shut up; its opposite 

 number or counterpart is the anal fin beneath the belly. 

 Both, almost triangular and blue-veined, surround the 

 hinder portion of the trunk like two large waving 

 sails. Right at the back, a little behind them, is the 

 caudal fin, almost as large and flexible as themselves 

 and shaped like a broad vertical flapper. 



Though the trigger-fish are adequately furnished 



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