GENERAL FACTS ABOUT SEA FISH 37 



Europe, the probability of any sea fish keeping so close to our 

 coasts as not even to occur on the opposite coast of Holland 

 or Norway seems too remote to bear serious examination. All 

 that can with safety be affirmed is that, for some reason or 

 other, scientific investigation has so far failed to discover these 

 forms in neighbouring waters. 



The converse of these real or alleged " peculiar " or 

 *' endemic " fishes are, of course, those with almost cosmo- 

 politan distribution, such as many of the sharks — blue {Carcha- 

 rias), porbeagle (Lamna), spur-dog (^yicanthias), tope (Gakus), 

 smooth hound {Mustelus), thresher (^Alopias), hammer-head 

 (Zyg,f>m), and monk-fish (R/iina)- — the conger (Conger), some 

 of the herrings (e.g. the sprat), one or two of the mackerel 

 family (as the remora), the dory (Zeus), horse-mackerel 

 (Caranx), sword-fish (Xi-phias), and greater weever {Tra- 

 chinus draco). 



Passing reference has already been made to the presence 

 of some southern forms on our south coast only, and of these 

 the chief are some of the perches (Serranus and Polyprion), 

 some of the wrasses (Acantholabrus and Coris), the murasna 

 (Murcena), and the trigger-fish (Balistes). On the other hand, 

 a ^Qw northern forms do not come, in the ordinary way, as far 

 south as the English Channel, but remain in Scotch waters, 

 or at most extend their range to the north-eastern counties 

 of England, such as the bergylt (Sebastes), lumpsucker 

 (Cyclopterus),* wolf-fish (Anarr/iicas), viviparous blenny 

 (Zoarces), torsk (Brosmius), long rough dab (Hippoglossoides), 

 and Greenland shark {L^margus). 



The scope of the present volume does not, however, permit 

 of any further attention to this matter of distribution. What 

 has to be borne in mind, and what has perhaps been shown 

 in these few pages on the subject, is that the fish fauna of our 

 seas is a blend of Arctic and Mediterranean forms, some few 



* The lumpsucker occurs in the Channel more commonly than the 

 majority of genuinely northern forms. 



