SEA-BREAMS. 101 



Couch says, ** They devour the green species of 

 sea-weeds, which they bite from the rocks, and 

 for bruising which their teeth are well suited, as 

 are their long and capacious intestines for di- 

 gesting it." The great strength of their jaws and 

 teeth, however, bespeaks heavier labour assigned 

 to these organs than that of bruising sea-weeds. 

 Colonel Montagu found in the stomach of one, 

 besides some small Sand-launce, the limbs of 

 crabs, and fragments of shells. And in the sto- 

 mach of one which we lately examined, there 

 were found numbers of bivalve shells, all of one 

 kind, a small grey Tellijia, some of which were 

 perfect, but most were broken, crushed, and 

 ground down to a coarse powder by the action of 

 the strong molars. 



" In its general habits," says the excellent na- 

 turalist, to whom we owe so much of our know- 

 ledge of the fishes of the west of England, " the 

 Sea-Bream might be considered a solitary fish ; 

 as when they most abound, the assemblage is 

 formed commonly for no other purpose than the 

 pursuit of food. Yet there are exceptions to 

 this; and fishermen inform me of instances in 

 which multitudes are seen congregated at the 

 surface, moving slowly along as if engaged in 

 some important expedition. This happens most 

 frequently over rocky ground in deep water."* 



* Cited in Yarrell's British Fishes, i. 125. 



