702 



S P A R U S. 



black crust, after which finish the dressing more 

 slowly. Roll him in a clean cloth to cool a little, 

 and by gentle pressure on the cloth the crust will 

 peel off ; and you will, in all time coming, be able to 

 tell what a perch really is. It is the same in all the 

 wide ranging Acanthopterygii ; and as matters are 

 usually managed, we have an exemplification of the 

 adage " food from above, cooks from below." 



The jaws of the sea bream are short and of equal 

 length, and the head is also short, and descends sud- 

 denly to the point of the upper jaw ; the sides of the 

 head are scaly ; and there is a portion of the anterior 

 part of the gill-lid of a dull silvery metallic appear- 

 ance ; the upper part of the body is reddish-grey, the 

 sides golden-grey, passing into white on the belly ; 

 the dorsal and anal fins are brown, the pectorals and 

 the caudal red, and the ventrals grey. It is very 

 common on some parts of the south coast of England, 

 and on various parts of the east coast. It is also 

 common on some of the shores of Ireland ; and it is 

 not unknown as far to the northward as Norway. 

 They are most common in the summer and autumn, 

 about the latter end of which season they deposit 

 their eggs, and then retire into the deep water till 

 the summer again comes round. The young, which 

 are called chads on the coast of the Channel, appear 

 then in vast numbers as early as January, at which 

 time they are about an inch long. As is the case 

 with all sorts of fry, they are eaten in great numbers 

 by the larger fishes ; and they themselves are very 

 voracious in proportion to their size. They are easily 

 caught with hook and line, as they bite at any kind 

 of bait. Indeed, when adult they are among the 

 most miscellaneous of fishes in their feeding. They 

 browse the finer sea-weed from the rocks, and they 

 eat small fishes, Crustacea, and shelled mollusca ; but 

 it does not appear that they swallow ve^ large fishes, 

 as their mouths, contrary to those of the majority of 

 fish, are much more of a browsing than of a swal- 

 lowing character. Their side teeth are, however, 

 very improperly called molars or " grinders,'' for the 

 jaws merely open and shut without any lateral motion, 

 which is the true grinding one. The other species 

 which has been noticed as a rare straggler on the 

 British shores, is 



THE SPANISH BREAM (P. ert/t/mnus). It has been 

 but recently observed on the shores of this country, 

 and that only on the south ; and we had best allow 

 Mr. Couch to give his own description of it. " It is 

 the size of a small sea-bream ; the body rather more 

 slender; head flatter on the top; eyes smaller, in- 

 clining to oval ; before the eye the head is more 

 protruded ; the mouth with a under gape ; front 

 teeth as in the sea-bream ; grinders more broad and 

 blunt ; scarcely a depression before the nasal orifices, 

 though in the sea-bream they are conspicuous ; fins 

 as in the sea-bream, even to the number ot rays, 

 except the pectoral, which in the sea-bream reaches 

 opposite to the third ray of the anal fin, in this only 

 to the vent ; there is no lateral spot." 



There are many species of this genus in the Medi- 

 terranean, some of them with the muzzle larger than 

 in those that have been described ; some of a silvery 

 colour, and others the same in the ground, with cross 

 bands of black. 



DENTEX. These are Mediterranean fishes, which 

 very rarely indeed wander as far as the British 

 shores ; and at present there is only one recorded spe- 

 cimen, which was caught off Hastings, and brought 



to the London market, in April, 1805, which was 

 obtained and described by Donovan. This was 



Dentcx vulgaris the four-toothed species, which 

 may be considered as the typical species of the genus. 

 The specimen above alluded to was a fish of consider- 

 able size, being two feet and a half in length ; but in 

 the Mediterranean they are often found three feet in 

 length, and weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, 

 while the one mentioned weighed sixteen; and it must 

 have been in good condition notwithstanding its long 

 journey, for twenty-eight pounds is the proportional 

 weight of a three-foot fish, when a two feet and a 

 half one weighs sixteen, that is, taking them as the 

 cubes of the lineal dimensions, which is the accurate 

 mode of estimation. 



The characters are, the body deep in the vertical 

 section, but compressed laterally ; the fins in number 

 and arrangement as in the rest of the family, but with 

 one very strong spine in the part of the ventrals, 

 and thence in the anal ; the head large, all the teeth 

 conical, and placed in a single range, and four in the 

 front of each jaw, very long and strong, resembling 

 the canines of a beast of prey ; teeth also over the 

 gill-arches, but none on the palatal bones or the vomer ; 

 the head in front of the eyes without scales, and six 

 rays to the gills. This fish has been long known in 

 the Mediterranean, receiving the name Denies, 

 " toothy," from the great size and strength of the 

 fore-teeth, which have also obtained for it the name 

 of Cynodon, or " dog-tooth." As it is a fish of some 

 celebrity in its locality, we shall quote Donovan's 

 account of it. " A more voracious fish is scarcely 

 known ; and when we consider its ferocious inclina- 

 tion, and the great strength of its formidable canine 

 teeth, we must be fully sensible of the ability it pos- 

 sesses in attacking other fishes, even of superior size, 

 with advantage. It is asserted, that when taken in 

 the fishermen's nets, it will seize upon the other fishes 

 taken along with it, and mangle them dreadfully. 

 Being a swift swimmer it finds abundant prey, and 

 soon attains to a considerable size. Willoughby ob- 

 serves, that small fishes of this genus are rarely taken ; 

 and the same is mentioned by later writers. During 

 the winter it prefers deep waters ; but in the spring, 

 or about May, it quits this retreat, and approaches 

 the entrance of the great rivers, where it deposits its 

 spawn between (in?) the crevices of stones and rocks. 

 The fisheries for this kind of sparus are carried on upon 

 an extensive scale in the warmer parts of Europe. In 

 the estuaries of Dalmatia and the Levant, the capture 

 of this fish is an object of material consideration, both 

 to the inhabitants generally as a wholesome and pala- 

 table food, when fresh, and to the mercantile interest 

 of those countries as an article of commerce. They 

 prepare the fish, according to the ancient custom, by 

 cutting it in pieces, and packing it in barrels with 

 vinegar and spices, in which state it will keep perfectly 

 well for twelve months." This appears to be the only, 

 or at all events the best, way of preserving the flesh 

 of these fast-swimming spinous fishes generally ; and 

 though there does not appear to have been much, or 

 indeed any, attention paid to it, it seems that the flesh 

 of all fishes which gets dry in the ordinary modes of 

 cooking cannot be advantageously preserved by salt. 

 The salting is more successful in the soft-finned fishes, 

 and some of the cartilaginous ones can be preserved 

 by simply drying them, or at most by watering them 

 once or twice with salt water. 



CANTHABUS. The characters of this genus are : 



