THE TRIGGER-FISH 



water, even extending into the grass-wrack fields. 

 Fishermen know it well, for it is fairly common, if 

 not of much use for food, especially in the warmer 

 parts of the Western European seas. In the Mediter- 

 ranean, and off the coasts of Morocco, Portugal and 

 Spain, it is frequently met with, but, in the Gulf of 

 Gascony, it is scarcer, and further north is only 

 occasionally caught. 



In this fish, which has greater protection, the armour 

 is complete; it surrounds the whole body from head 

 to tail, leaving only the fins free. The head is confined 

 in a helmet of one piece, large, hard, and bristling 



Fig. 14. — Mailed Gurnard. The fish may reach over a foot in length. 



with spines, having two great flat horns in front like 

 those once worn upon a warrior's helmet. The 

 question has been asked: Does the creature use these 

 horns as spades for burrowing into the mud and 

 digging out any prey that may be hidden there? 

 Observations in the aquarium seem to show that it 

 does not. The helmeted head, which looks so alarm- 

 ing, has under it a toothless mouth, the position and 

 shape of which enable it to browse upon the bottom, 

 and pick up there without any need for digging, the 

 little animals, crabs, and shell-fish, which ordinarily 

 live there. 



Then, besides the helmet, the trunk, from the 

 shoulders as far as the caudal fin, is covered by a suit 

 of armour composed of eight pieces, these pieces being 



77 



