276 SALT-WATER FISHES 



seas even a third of that weight, is another southern perchlike 

 fish, ranging to Northern Europe. It has a singular habit 

 of shehering in floating wreckage, often in numbers, and the 

 fishermen spear it on such occasions. In colour it is dark 

 grey or stone hue, of clumsy build, deep and thick for its 

 length. The fins and gill-covers are edged with sharp spines. 

 There are teeth on the tongue as well as in the jaws. 

 Calderwood notes two taken in Cornwall on the same day 

 (in September, 1892), the one at IMevagissey, the other at 

 Plymouth, the localities named being about forty miles apart 

 by sea. They were thought to have come in from the 

 Atlantic together, and measured respectively 19I and 20-| in. 



The Dentex [Tlentex vulgaris), last of our rarer perchlike 

 sea fish, is also a Mediterranean form. One of 56 in. has 

 been caught in our seas, and many of smaller size. In 

 colour it is blue and silver, with bronze reflections. It has 

 large canine teeth, like those seen in some wrasses, and is 

 described as a greedy biter and a powerful fighter when 

 hooked. 



The Mendole (M^na vulgaris) is admitted to the British 

 fauna by Couch, but Day thinks that the specimen thus 

 described was a bogue (Box). Couch says, however, that 

 it had pointed teeth, whereas those of the bogue are flat 

 and notched. 



Trig/ops murrayi, a small cottoid, was first described in 

 1885 from specimens taken by Dr. Murray ofl^ the Mull 

 of Kintyre. It has since been known as " Murray's 

 Gurnard," and has been recorded in the Firth of Forth 

 (1890) by Mr. Thomas Scott.* It measures only 4 or 5 in., 

 and appears to live on muddy ground in from 25 to 

 28 fathoms ; also it is claimed as occurring in Scotch waters 

 only, though an allied species ("T. pingelii) from the Norwegian 

 coast is figured in Scandinavian Fishes. 



* See Eagle Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., January, 1895, p. 23. 



