CORNISH SUCKER. 197 



water exceeding a few fathoms in depth; but it is widely dis- 

 tributed, and has been noticed round the shores of England and 

 Ireland. Risso, as referred to, also classes it among the fishes 

 of the Mediterranean. Its food is the smaller crustacean animals, 

 which it swallows whole. It is large with spawn in March, 

 and the grains are of considerable size in proportion to the 

 bulk of the fish. I have found what might be thought a little 

 family of five or six of different sizes, under one stone. 



A full-grown example of the Cornish Sucker measures four 

 inches in length; the forward portion of the body and head 

 depressed and broad, but it sinks before the eyes, and the snout 

 grows narrower, and projects in the form of the bill of a duck, 

 although proportionally wider. The gape is wide, lips mem- 

 branous, under jaw narrow, and shorter than the upper. Eyes 

 lateral; nostrils at a small distance before them, and close to 

 each nostril two threads or processes, the longest of which in 

 an example two inches in length, measured the tenth of an 

 inch, and is branched like a deer's horn. The body becomes 

 compressed opposite the dorsal fin, and tapers to the tail. The 

 single dorsal fin begins at two thirds of the whole length; the 

 anal fin begins behind this, and both run back to be joined to 

 the tail; the latter small and round. Pectoral fins behind the 

 greatest breadth; united to the sucking organ, which is a double 

 disk, separated by a channel; their circles formed of small 

 tubercles. The colour varies from purple, with a tinge of pink, 

 to crimson or dull red; the belly pale red; and the colours of 

 the body extend to the fins. Behind the eyes are two round 

 spots, of a darker colour than the general surface, with a centre 

 marked with light blue, and a light coloured border; in some 

 cases these outer borders touching each other, with a light 

 coloured line stretched out behind each of them; and across, 

 from one eye to the other, a straight band, with one or two 

 bent lines, having an angle directed backward. ♦ 



