M U G I L O I D JE. 



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are handsome fishes, and highly esteemed. They 

 swim near the surface, ascend the estuaries of rivers, 

 and are remarkable for the extensive leaps which 

 they can take out of the water. The species are 

 rather numerous, and there is some confusion in the 

 foreign ones ; we shall therefore confine our notices to 

 those species which are found at one part or other ol 

 the European shores. 



THE GREY MULLET (Mugil capita}. This is by 

 much the most common of the British species, though 

 it is one respecting which there have been mistakes. 

 It appears, from the Fauna Italica, now publishin 

 by the Prince of Mnsignano, that there are five 

 species of grey mullet found in the Mediterranean, 

 while there are not so many in our seas. M. cephalus 

 is one of the species found in the Mediterranean, and 

 not hitherto at least, in the British seas, though M. 

 capita is not only found in those seas, but as far to 

 the north as the coast of Norway, and in the Baltic. 

 By some means or other, the trivial name Cephalus 

 was for a long time applied indiscriminately to all the 

 grey mullets of Europe ; and thus it was made to 

 appear that a fish, which is in reality confined to the 

 warmer seas, is generally distributed. Mr. Yarrell, 

 in his excellent work on British Fishes, thus clearly 

 points out the difference of these two species : 

 " Mugil cephalus is distinguished by having its eyes 

 partly covered with a serr.i-transparent membrane 

 adhering to the anterior and posterior part of the 

 orbit, and also by a large elongated triangular scale 

 pointing backwards, placed just over the origin of the 

 pectoral fin on each side. A dried specimen of this 

 fish from the Mediterranean, now before me, exhibits 

 both these peculiarities, which M. capita does not 

 possess. The appearance of the pectoral fin, and the 

 superposed triangular scale of M. cephalus. supply 

 the means of comparison with our own grey mullet, 

 in which the pectoral fin scale is short and blunt." 



It should seem from this, and from various other 

 collateral circumstances, that the grey mullet is the 

 Hamado of Nice, the M. capita of Cuvier ; and 

 Cuvier himself seems to have been perfectly aware of 

 the confusion which had been introduced into the 

 history of this fish. He says distinctly, in a note to 

 the last edition of the Regne Animal, that " Linnaeus, 

 and many of his successors, have confounded all the 

 European mullets under one single species (their 

 Mugil cephalus}." 



This is perhaps not to be wondered at. Linnaeus 

 found a description of mullets in the Mediterranean, 

 and he observed in the North Seas one not essentially 

 different, and thus he fell into the mistake. There 

 is no question, however, that the common mullet, 

 which is not a rare fish on many parts of our coasts, 

 is capita, not cephalus. They are remarkably lively 

 fishes, particularly fond of fresh water, and very dex- 

 terous in managing themselves. On the south and 

 south-east of England thdy are very common ; and 

 they occur both on the south and the north of Ireland, 

 and on some parts of the Scottish coasts, though there 

 they are not so general or so numerous. These 

 fishes are in fact a sort of scavengers of the water, 

 and come near the shores, equally partial to the scum 

 and the dregs. Greasy substances, and also animal 

 matters in a semi-putrid state, are not rejected by 

 them ; and they may he seen at one time skimming 

 the surface for what floats, and at another time poking 

 with their noses in the mud for whatever is to be 

 found there suitable to their very peculiar sort of 



palate. They are also particularly fond of flies, 

 which appears to be one of their inducements lor 

 ascending so far up the estuaries of the rivers, though 

 it does not appear that they get above the tide-way, 

 or even remain till a second tide overtake them at 

 the top of their excursion. They are very familiar, 

 and can be kept in ponds, where they soon become so 

 domesticated that they assemble at their accustomed 

 hour in order to be fed. In their natural rambles they 

 are liable to be entangled by shallows, and among reeds 

 and other obstacles. They have great powers of 

 leaping, and when enclosed, even in a net, it is 

 difficult to prevent them from springing over the head 

 line, and making their escape. Indeed, the over- 

 leaping of obstacles appears to be instinctive with 

 them ; and, as compared with many fishes, a grev- 

 mnllet pond would require lofty banks, in the same 

 manner as a deer-park requires lofty walls. This fish 

 rises freely to artificial flies ; and during the flood 

 tide, in those rivers which they visit abundantly, they 

 afford excellent sport. Bait-fishing is not so success- 

 ful with the grey mullet, because its mouth is not 

 accustomed to receive any substance so large as a 

 baited hook. Contrary to the opinion sometimes 

 stated, that mullets never seize living food, it may, 

 however, be urged that they rise to the fly. It is 

 usually said that the river Arun, which enters the 

 English Channel at Arundel, furnishes the best grey 

 mullets of any in England, and that they ascend the 

 river as far as twenty miles, and thus afford excellent 

 angling, especially toward the upper part of their 

 range. The size of fishes is not a very definite matter, 

 but that of the common grey mullet may be estimated 

 at about a foot and a half. Mullets spawn in the 

 warm weather about Midsummer, and in the course of 

 about six weeks, or two months, the young are about 

 an inch in length. They then keep much in the salt 

 water, but alternate between it and the fresh. Indeed 

 it appears, from experiments which have actually been 

 made, that if mullets, in this early stage, are placed in 

 fresh-water ponds of sufficient size, they succeed as 

 well in gatheiing flesh and fat as if left to their natural 

 habits, arid their usual alternation of salt and fresh 

 water. 



The short Grey Mullet (M. curtus). For the know- 

 lege of this species we are indebted to Mr. Yarrell. 

 Its body is much shorter and deeper than that of the 

 former species, and its head wider, and also more 

 pointed. The only species which Mr. Yarrell met 

 with was about two inches in length. 



Thick-lipped Grey Mullet (M. chelo}. This species 

 has been long known as a native of the Mediterranean, 

 but it has only recently been added to the list of 

 British fishes. The characters are : The head of 

 moderate size ; the upper lip thick, the lower one 

 less so ; and the maxillary bone curved. This species 

 of grey mullet comes to the estuaries of rivers, in the 

 south of England at least, during the winter months, 

 and the best account of them is by Mr. Couch, whose 

 observations on the fishes of the Channel, as published 

 in Mr. Yarrell's work, are highly valuable. 



" This grey mullet," says Mr. Couch, " is grega- 

 rious, frequenting harbours and the mouths of rivers 

 in the winter months in large numbers, all of which 

 are just of one size; but the fish which I shall here 

 describe was taken, with about four hundred others, 

 as they were left in a pool of our river, forsaken by 

 the tide. This species has, like the other, the habit 

 of escaping from a net by leaping over the head lines* 

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