ELECTRIC FISH 



sandy bottom off the coast, and there it lies half buried. 

 Skate, turbot and devil-fish live near it, all fish which are 

 familiar to the fisherman. We shall not have any great 

 difficulty in catching it. The seas of Europe know 

 two main species, the marbled torpedo and the eyed 

 torpedo. The former is more often found and is the 

 larger; certain specimens may be nearly three feet long, 

 if we include the tail. Its reddish-grey back, striped 

 in shades of the same colour, is responsible for its name 

 " marmoratus " or " marbled ". The latter is practic- 

 ally confined to the Mediterranean, and is more richly 

 coloured and better looking. It has several large round 

 eye-like patches, usually five in number, of light blue 

 with a double circle of black and yellow round them, 

 upon a red-brick shading into yellow ground, finely 

 touched with white which makes them stand out more 

 clearly. This adornment of the upper surface, which 

 may not unreasonably be compared to that of a peacock's 

 tail, is in contrast with the lower surface, which is white 

 with a delicate shade of rose enhancing its satin-like 

 lustre. The openings of the gill slits stand out darkly 

 on this background, and so does the mouth connected 

 at its angles to two deep nostrils. The two eyes, each 

 with an air-hole near it, are conspicuous on the upper 

 side, near the front of the disk. 



Fishermen give them a number of nicknames, all 

 of which have reference to the effect felt when grasping 

 them. This is like a series of rapid and successive elec- 

 tric shocks, which begin as soon as the fish is touched 

 and cease the moment the hand is withdrawn. The 

 torpedoes are often alive when taken out of the net and 

 go on living for a fairly long time. They can produce 

 a discharge which, though it is never quite powerful 

 enough to be dangerous, is definitely disagreeable. 

 It is in proportion to the size of the animal. In order 

 to experience it, it is necessary to grip the creature with 

 the whole hand, passing the palm under the belly and 

 pressing the thumb on its back. So the circuit, which 



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