SPINOUS FISHES. 



657 



the bleak breed in great abundance. It is 

 most probable, therefore, that they are the 

 young of some animal not yet come to their 

 perfect form, and therefore reducible to no 

 present system. 



The time that spinous fishes continue in 

 the pea is in proportion to the size of the 

 kind. It is a rule that chiefly holds through 

 nature, that the larger the animals are, the 

 longer they continue before exclusion. This 

 I say holds generally through all nature, 

 though it is not easy to assign a cause for so 

 well known a truth. It may probably be, 

 that as all large bodies take a longer time to 

 grow hot than small ones, so the larger the 

 egg. the longer influence of vital warmth it 

 requires to reach through all its recesses, and 

 to unfold the dormant springs that wait to be 

 put into motion. 



The manner in which the eggs of fishes are 

 impregnated is wholly unknown. All that 

 obviously offers is, that in ponds the sexes 

 are often seen together among the long grass 

 at the edge of the water; that there they 

 seem to struggle ; and that during this time 

 they are in a state of suffering: they grow 

 thin; they lose their appetite, and their flesh 

 becomes flabby ; the scales of some grow 

 'rough, and they lose their lustre. On the 

 contrary, when the time of coupling is over, 

 their appetite returns; they reassume their 

 natural agility, and their scales become bril- 

 liant and beautiful. 



Although the usual way with spinous fishes 

 is to produce by spawn ; yet there are some, 

 such as the eel and the blenny, that are 

 known to bring forth their young alive. 

 Bowlker, who has written a treatise upon 

 fishing, seems to determine the question rela- 

 tive to the viviparous production of eels, 

 upon the authority of one or two credible 

 witnesses. An eel, opened in the presence 

 of several persons of credit, was found to 

 have an infi.iite number of little creatures, 

 closely wrapped up together in a lump, about 

 the size of a nutmeg, which being put into a 



* The Eel, it is known, is viviparous. It produces its 

 numerous young during the decline of summer : these are 

 very small at their first exclusion. This fish often wan- 

 ders about meadows in search of snails and other food ; 

 and, according to Dr. Anderson, young eels will often 



basin of water, soon separated, and swam 

 about : yet still, whether these may not have 

 been worms generated in the animal's body, 

 remains a doubt; for there are scarcely any 

 fishes that are not infested with worms in 

 that manner.* 



With respect to the growth of fishes, it is 

 observed, that among carps, particularly the 

 first year, they grow to about the size of the 

 leaf of a willow-tree ; at two years, they are 

 about four inches long. They grow but one 

 inch more the third season, which is five 

 inches. Those of four years old are about 

 six inches ; and seven after the fifth. From 

 that to eight years old they are found to be 

 large in proportion to the goodness of the 

 pond, from eight to twelve inches. With re- 

 gard to sea-fish, the fishermen assure us, that 

 a fish must be six years old before it is fit to 

 be served up to table. They instance it in 

 the growth of a mackarel. They assure us 

 that those of a year old are as large as one's 

 finger; that those of two years, are about 

 twice that length; at three and four years, 

 they are that small kind of mackarel that 

 have neither milts nor roes ; and between five 

 and six, they are those full-grown fish that 

 are served up to our tables. In the same 

 manner, with regard to flat fishes, they tell 

 us, that the turbot and barbel at one year 

 are about the size of a crown-piece ; the 

 second year as large as the palm of one's 

 hand ; and at the fifth and sixth year, they 

 are large enough to be served up to table. 

 Thus it appears, that fish are a considerable 

 time in coining to their full growth, and that 

 they are a long time destroyed before it 

 comes to their turn to be destroyers. 1 * 



All fish live upon each other, in some state 

 of their existence. Those with the largest 

 mouths, attack and devour the larger kinds; 

 those whose mouths are less, lie in wait for 

 the smaller fry ; and even these chiefly sub- 

 sist upon spawn. Of those which live in the 

 ocean, of the spinous kinds, the Dorado is 

 the most voracious. This is chiefly found in 



migrate across land, in great shoals, from one part of a 

 river to another. 



b Traite dus Peches, par Monsieur Duhamel. Sect. 3. 

 p. 10. 



