EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS. 235 



a fisli of unusual character^ and knowing that I was engaged in 

 this work, took some pains to procure me a sight of it. 



This individual was caught in a net in the salt water, in the 

 lower part of Newark Bay, and, at first sight, I was inclined to 

 believe it a nondescript species. 



It weighed something over a pound and a half, was unusually 

 thick in proportion to its depth, and was in the finest condition. 

 Its colour, however, was the most remarkable ; for the back 

 and sides, down to the lateral line, were of the richest and most 

 lustrous copper colour, paling on the sides into bright brazen 

 yellow, with the belly of a silvery whiteness. The cheeks, gill- 

 covers, and fins, all partook of the same coppery hue, and the 

 whole fish was far more lucent and metallic than any of the 

 family I had before seen. There was not the slightest indica- 

 tion of any transverse bars or of any mottling ; nor was there 

 any of that sea-green colour which is so peculiar to the Pike 

 family. 



On a minute examination, however, of its characteristics, and 

 especially by the size of its scales, I was perfectly satisfied that 

 it was neither more nor less than an individual Long Island 

 Pickerel [Esox Fasciatus), which, having wandered into salt 

 waters, had thus entirely changed its colours, and grown to a 

 weight exceeding its natural average, in the ratio of at least 

 three to one, probably from the superiority and greater abund- 

 ance of food which he found in his new hunting grounds. 



I did not myself taste the fish, but was informed that it was 

 of very unusual excellence. 



I never saw a more striking instance of the effect which 

 diff'erent waters have upon the colouring and condition of fishes, 



