ICHTHYOLOGY. 



271 



Classifica- universal frame is it possible to observe the like majestic 

 tion— Ana- of nature : insomuch, as we need not seeke any farther, nay, 

 canths. ^^g ought not to make more search into her divinitie, Con- 



sidering there cannot be found any thing equall or like >nito 

 this one element, wherein she liath surmounted and gone 

 beyond her own selfe in a wonderfull number of respects. 

 For, first and foremost, is there any thing more violent than 

 the sea; and namely when it is troubled with blustring 

 winds, whirlepuffs, storms, and tempests ; or wherein hatli 

 the wit of man been more employed (seeke out all parts of 

 the known world) than in seconding the waves and billows 

 of the sea, by saile and ore ? Finally, is there ought more 

 admirable than the inerrable force of the reciprocall tides 

 of the sea, ebbing and flowing as it doth, whereby it keep- 

 eth a current also, as it were the stream of some great 

 river ? 



" The current of the sea is great, the tide much, the 

 winds vehement and forcible ; and more than that, ores 

 and sailes withall to help forward the rest, are mightie and 

 powerful! : and yet there is one little sillie fish, named 

 Echeneis, that checketh, scorneth, and arresteth them all. 

 Let the winds blow as much as they will, rage the storms 

 and tempests what they can, yet this little fish commaundeth 

 their furie, restraineth their puissance, and, maugre all their 

 force, as great as it is, compelleth ships to stand still : a thing 

 which no cables, be they never so big and able as they will, 

 can perform. She bridleth the violence and tameth the 

 greatest rage of this universall world, and that without any 

 paine that she putteth herselfe unto, without any holding 

 or putting backe, or any other meanes save only by cleav- 

 ing and sticking fast to a vessell : in such a sort as this one 

 small and poore fish is sufficient to resist and withstand so 

 great a power both of sea and navie, yea and to stop the 

 passage of a ship, doe they all what they can possible to the 

 contrarie. What should our fleets and armadoes at sea 

 make such turrets in their decks and forecastles ? what 

 should they fortifie their ships in warlike manner, to fight 

 from them upon the sea, as it were from mure and rampier 

 on firme land ? See the vanitie of man ! alas, how foolish 

 are we to make all this adoe ? When one little fish, not 

 above half a foot long is able to arrest and stay per force, 

 yea, and hold as ])risoners, our goodly tall and proud shi])s, 

 so well armed in the beakehead with yron pikes and brazen 

 tines ; so oifensive and dangerous to bouge and pierce any 

 enemie ship which they doe encountre. Certes, reported 

 it is, that in the naval battaile before Actium, wherein An- 

 ioniwi, and Cleopatra the queene, were defeited by Augus- 

 tus, one of these fishes staled the admirall ship wherein 31. 

 A?itonius was, at what time as he made all the hast and 

 meanes he could devise with help of ores to encourage his 

 people from ship to ship, and could not prevaile, untill he 

 was forced to abandon the said admirall, and go into ano- 

 ther galley. Meanwhile the armada of Augmlus Ccesar, 

 seeing this disorder, charged with greater violence, and 

 soone invested the fleete of Antonie. Of late daies also, 

 and within our remembrance, the like happened to the roiall 

 ship of the Emperor Cuius Caligula, at what time as he 

 rowed backe, and made saile from Astura to Antium ; when 

 and where this little fish detained his ship, and (as it fell out 

 afterward) presaged an unfortunate event thereby : for this 

 was the last time that ever this emperour made his returne 

 to Rome : and no sooner was he arrived, but his own soul- 

 diours in a mutinie fell upon him and stabbed him to death. 

 And yet it was not long ere the cause of tliis wonderfull 

 stale of his ship was knowne : for so soon as ever the vessel 

 (and a galliace it was, furnished with five bankes of ores to 

 a side) was perceived alone in the fleete to stand still, ))re- 

 sentlie a number of tall fellows leapt out of their ships into 

 the sea, to search what the reason might be that it stirred 

 not ; and fbimd one of these fishes sticking fast to the very 

 helme : which being reported unto Caius Caligula, he 



canths. 



fumed and fared as an emperour, taking great indignation Classifica- 

 that so small a thing as it should hold him back perforce, "°'' — ■^"°'' 

 and check the strength of all his mariners, notwithstanding 

 there were no fewer than foure hundred lustie men in his 

 galley that laboured at the ore all that ever they could to 

 the contrarie. But this prince (as it is for certain knowne) 

 was most astonied at this, namely, that the fish sticking only 

 to the ship, should hold it fast ; and the same being brought 

 into the ship and there laid, not worke the like effect. They 

 who at that time and afterward saw the fish, report that it 

 resembled for all the world a snaile of the greatest making : 

 but as touching the form and sundrie kinds thereof, many 

 have written diversly, whose opinions I have set downe in 

 my treatise of living creatures belonging to the waters, and 

 namely in the particular discourse of this fish : neither doe 

 I doubt but all the sorte of fishes are able to doe as much : 

 for this we are to believe, that Pourcellans also be of the 

 same vertue, since it was well knowne by a notorious ex- 

 ample, that one of them did the like by a ship sent from 

 Periander to the Cape of Gnidos : in regard whereof, the 

 inhabitants of Gnidos doe honour and consecrat the said 

 Porcellane within their temples of Ve7ius. Some of our 

 Latin writers do call the said fish that thus staieth a ship, by 

 the name of Remora." 



Another species, Echeneis naucrates, Linn., commonly 

 called the Indian Remora, has usually twenty-two plates 

 upon the head. In its habits it resembles the preceding ; 

 but it seems to be more frequent in the seas of India and 

 America than in those of Europe. The manuscripts of 

 Commerson, as quoted by Count Lacepede, inform us that 

 it is common along the coasts of Mosambique, where it is 

 made use of in a singular way for the purpose of catching 

 turtles. A ring is first fastened round its tail, and then a 

 long cord is attached to the ring. When thus accoutred, 

 the fish, placed in a vessel of sea-water, is carried out in a 

 boat; and as soon as the fishermen perceive a sleeping 

 turtle, they row gently towards it, and throw the Remora 

 into the water, with a sufficient length of cord. It seldom 

 fails speedily to attach itself to the unconscious turtle, which 

 by the tenacity of its adherence is immediately drawn to- 

 wards the boat and captured. 



Family III.— ECHENEIDID.ffi, Bonap. 



Remarkable and peculiar in having a flat head occupied on the 

 dorsal aspect by a laminated disk that forms an adhesive sucker by 

 which the Echeneis can attach itself to ships or other fishes, most 

 commonly to the large Sharks. Body elongated, tapering much 

 towards the tail ; scaly. Dorsal single, malacopterous opposite to 

 the anal. Eyes lateral. Mouth small, horizontal; mandible pro- 

 jecting ; teeth on the premaxillaries and mandible villiform or 

 fine card-like ; a row of hair-like teeth on the edge of the max- 

 illaries, which form the sides of the upper jaw ; villiform teeth on 

 the front of the vomer and the surface of that bone, and of the 

 tongue rough. Branchiostegals eight. Stomach ca^cal, large; a wide, 

 short intestine; no air-bladder. The larainaj of the disk are spin- 

 ous on the edges, the spines being in most species very short and 

 slender ; the number of laminse varies in dififerent species. 



Genus I. Echeneis, Linn. 



FLOUNDER FAMILY. 



Though the Pleuroneclidce do not require the same ar- 

 maments for deep-sea fishing that the Gadoids do, yet they 

 are of great imjiortance to our maritime population, and 

 give employment to large bodies of fishermen at most parts 

 of the coast. These fish abound in comparatively shallow 

 water, where the bottom is sandy, though some of the 

 largest, as the Turbot and Holibut, are taken further out to 

 sea. As they feed habitually at the bottom, the Flounders 

 are chiefly captured by trawlers. Mr Yarrell states that 

 London alone pays L. 15,000 a-year to the Danes for lob- 

 sters to make sauce for the Turbots brought to the London 



