Living Silver 



the redfish ate since its stomach was invariably inverted out through 

 its mouth by the time it reached the deck of a traw^ler . What ate the 

 redfish, on the other hand, w^as no mystery. Sea bream w^as the 

 staple diet of the halibut and the chief source of its vitamins. Jan 

 often thought that the Norwegians , who loved smoked Sebastes^ were 

 saving themselves a lot of trouble by consuming these vitamins 

 at their source : for redfish were easy to catch, halibut difficult. 



RED GURNARD 



But no country had much time for the gurnard, another numer- 

 ous fish of fine flavour. Perhaps it was the unlucky angle of its 

 snout and a consequent ridiculous severity of expression, that per- 

 suaded people it was unpalatable. Anyhow, Jan was not sorry that 

 gurnards were unpopular. Their sharp spines made them devils to 

 gut and he was usually quite relieved when a bundle of them was 

 thrown over the side. 



CATFISH 



The catfish, though, was another matter. It, too, had an un- 



94 



