SHORE FISHES. ?6l 



the long dorsal fin spread partly over spines and partly over 

 soft rays. The spiny portion is the three-fifths nearest the 

 head, the remainder being supported by soft rays. Other 

 characters are thick, fleshy lips and protruding teeth. The 

 Corkwing is included in the genus Crenilabrus, which is 

 separated from Lab'rus on account of the margin of the first 

 plate of the gill-covers being toothed. 



In general the colouring of the Corkwing Wrasse is brown 

 above, nicely merging into green on the sides ; the gill-covers 

 ornamented with stripes of red and green. But as we have 

 already indicated, individuals vary much in colour. From 

 immediately behind the head there runs parallel with the 

 outline of the back a dark line (the lateral line), which ter- 

 minates in a well-defined round black spot close to the tail. 

 We must not look for large specimens, nor for the larger 

 species of Wrasse, in the pools; but if we get on the edge of 

 the rocks when the tide is coming in we are almost sure to see 

 some of considerable size gliding in and out the waving fronds 

 of the rock weeds. They are easily taken on a line cast from 

 the rocks at this time, the hook being baited with pilchard or 

 a piece of shore crab. Many are caught in this way for sport, 

 and then handed over to the crabbers as bait for their pots. 

 For this purpose they are much appreciated, and special pots 

 are put down to capture " rath " for bait. 



One of the commonest species is the Ballan Wrasse (Labrns 

 maculatus], which is the Wrasse. The ground colour is 

 usually some variation upon golden orange, and many of the 

 scales have a large pale spot which earns for the species the 

 name maculatus. The spines in the dorsal fin are twenty, and 

 the soft rays ten or eleven. Certain forms are known as the 

 Green Wrasse and the Comber Wrasse, under the impression 

 they are distinct species, whereas they are really colour 

 varieties of the Ballan Wrasse. The length varies in adults 

 from fifteen inches to two feet, with a weight of eight or ten 

 pounds. 



