422 



THE COMMON, OR JOHN DOREE. 



in the mean time, loosened and let go the line, which was furnished 

 with a buoy that floated ou the surface of the ocean, and marked the 

 course the Sucking-fish had taken ; and he pursued it in his canoe, 

 until he perceived his game to be nearly exhausted. He, then, taking 

 up the buo}'-, gradually drew the line towards the shore ; the Sucking 

 Ssh still adhering with so inflexible a tenacity to his prey as not easily 

 •o be removed. 



OF THE DOEEE TEIBE. 



None of the fishes of the present tribe were known to the ancient 

 naturalists, except the Common Doree. There are about eight 

 species, some of which are found in the European, and others in the 

 American seas. One of them, which inhabits the fresh waters of 

 India, swims near the surface, like the beaked Chsetodou, and catches 

 aquatic insects, by jetting water upon them from its mouth. The 

 wings of the insects are by this means wetted, and they become an 

 sasy prey. 



THE COMMON, OR JOHN DOREE. 



The ancients were well acquainted with the John Doree: it is 



expressly mentioned in the 

 writings both of Ovid and 

 Pliny. This fish, and not 

 the Haddock, is, by many 

 persons, supposed to have 

 been the same out of the 

 mouth of which the apostle 

 Peter, at the command of 

 our Saviour, took the tri- 

 bute-money. The indication 

 of this is stated to be a dark 

 spot, somewhat like a finger 

 mark, on each side of the 

 head. 

 The Doree is a very voracious animal : it feeds on various species 

 of small fish, which it pursues with great rapidity. It will seize, 

 and almost without discrimination, all kinds of baits. The auda- 

 ciousness of the Doree ought not to surprise us, when we consider 

 that, independently of the enormous dimensions of its mouth, and the 

 number and strength of its teeth, it has a longitudinal range of strong 

 Bpines, not only on each side of the dorsal fins, but likewise from the 

 mouth all the way to the second anal fin. These tend to protect it 

 from injury by its enemies of the deep. 



When the Doree is taken alive out of the water, it is able to 



compress its internal organs so rapidly, that the air, in rushing through 



the openings of the gills, produces a kind of noise somewhat like thai 



which, on similar occasions, is emitted by the Gurnards. 



The Doree is found in the North Sea, in the British Channel, tha 



