23 GURNARD. 



times, indeed, they appear as if asleep, so that they do not 

 display any sign of animation until an attem^Dt is made to 

 lay hold of them. But their usual place is at the bottom, 

 where they devour shell-fish, crabs, and small fishes, like the 

 other Gurnards, and they take a bait so freely that multitudes 

 of them are sometimes taken together. They are perhaps as 

 excellent for the table as the Tubfish or Piper, but their 

 smaller size renders them less valued; and when other fish 

 are abundant I have known them sold for two shillings and 

 sixjjence the hundredweight, and thirty for a penny. A 

 more usual price is three or four a penny, but, as conveyance 

 becomes more easy, a ready sale may be anticijjated for what 

 forms a wholesome and palatable article of food. The roe 

 is deposited through the spring, at some moderate distance 

 from land. 



In its general form this species resembles the others of its 

 genus, but more nearly the Ellcck than the Tubfish or Piper, 

 being less elevated than the latter on the head and before 

 the dorsal fin. It does not often exceed a foot in length; 

 the snout projecting in a slope from the eyes, bifid toothed. 

 The mouth beneath, with a bed of teeth in the palate; teeth 

 also in the jaws. Gill-covers with radiated lines. Three 

 flattened triangular spines, as in the other species, but that 

 one above the pectoral fin usually less extended than the spine 

 of the gill-cover. A rough ridge along the back, enclosing 

 the dorsal fins, and another (not very conspicuous) along the 

 lateral line. In some examples the first rays of the first dorsal 

 fin are rough also, a circumstance which appears to have been 

 the cause of mistake, as if it were the mark of a separate 

 species. In colour this fish varies much, but always with a 

 tendency to grey, the ground of the back being a yellowish 

 green, with bright yellow spots, with the sides below the 

 lateral line jiink or yellow; dorsal, j^ectoral, and caudal fins 

 dusky. The pectoral fins scarcely reach to the vent. The 

 skin is usually smeared with slime, which continues to be 

 poiired from the pores long after death. 



