SOME RARE OR UNCOMMON FISHES 297 



The Short Sun-fish {Orthagoriscus mola) is not a particularly 

 uncommon fish during hot summer weather on our south-west 

 coast, and has been taken in our seas weighing as much as 

 5 cwt. Like many other large fishes, however, It is inoffensive. 

 Gilnther says that it feeds on crustaceans ; but it must also eat 

 small fishes, for not only has it been known to seize a mackerel 

 bait, but its stomach was one of the chief sources of the 

 specimens of larval eels studied near Messina by Grassi and 

 Calundruccio. 



The skin is rough and covered with small spines. The eye 

 is small, and is protected by a projecting ridge and provided with 

 a kind of nictitant membrane. The mouth is small and with- 

 out teeth. For so bulky a fish, the sun-fish occasionally displays 

 extraordinary activity, and is sometimes seen to jump clear of 

 the water. On one occasion, for instance, the writer en- 

 deavoured to shoot a very large one which was about 20 

 yards from his boat, but would not allow itself to be gafFed. 

 The first rifle-ball ('303) having struck it on the back, the fish 

 leapt three times in the air, barely touching the water each 

 time, like a ricochetting shell, and then disappeared. In 

 colour the sun-fish is brown, with iridescent reflections. 



The Oblong Sun-fish (O. truncatus), which is much rarer 

 in our waters than the last, has a smooth, tesselated skin, 

 marked off in sections that give the surface a paved look. 

 In colour it is said to be brighter and more silvery than the 

 last. Not much more than a dozen species have been 

 recorded from British waters. 



The Globe-fish [Tetrodon lagocephalus) is a curiously 

 shaped relative of the sun-fishes, the body having a fore- 

 shortened appearance and being deepest almost beneath the 

 eye. The belly is covered with sharp, four-pointed spines 

 in its anterior portion, but not nearer the tail. When angered 

 or excited these fishes inflate their body with air, and in 

 this state they float at the surface of the sea head down- 

 wards, the spines offering effective protection against fishes 



