408 FISHES. 



The Spinous Loach is a still smaller species, its greatest 



length in these islands being no more than 3 inches. Like 



* Spinous the last, it has six barbels, all on the upper 



Loach, jaw; but it is easily distinguished by the 



erectile bifid spine beneath each eye. In colour the spin- 



ous loach is yellow, having rows of black spots along the 



back and sides. It seems to be far rarer in England than 



the last, and its occurrence in either Scotland or Ireland 



appears open to doubt. In habits it is said to resemble 



the last. 



CHAPTER XX. THE SALMON FAMILY. 



The salmonoid fishes are now, as ever, a bone of con- 

 tention among ichthyologists, some of whom recognise as 

 many as sixty European species, while others refer all 

 under less than half-a-dozen typical groups, as the salmon, 

 trout, char, grayling, and the rest. For the purposes of a 

 small introductory work like the present, in which economy 

 of space is an ever-present necessity, it will be sufficient 

 to glance briefly at the typical species, mentioning such 

 varieties as are of importance. 



Though termed in angling lore the " king of fishes," the 

 Salmon, with his kind, comes undeniably low in the scale. 

 Of this well-known fish, the features easiest to 

 identify are the hooked jaws, the small adipose 

 fin on the back not far from the tail, the X-shaped black 

 spots red after the fish has passed some time in fresh 

 water and the pink colour of the flesh. The remarkable 

 hook that develops in old breeding males on the lower jaw 

 is regarded by Smitt as no more than the result of irrita- 

 tion from frequent blows. 1 The salmon is caught in our 

 1 A History of Scandinavian Fishes, p. 855 fn. 



