PRICKLY FINNED FISHES. 



297 



the gills with five spines ; the pectoral fins 

 pointed. 



1 3. The Sparus or Sea-Bream. The body 

 oblong; the head middling ; the lips not in- 



cover of the gills scaly; the fins covering the 



gills with five rays; the pectoral fins pointed. 



14. The Chcstodon or Cat-fish. The body 



oblong ; the head small ; the teeth slender and 



verted ; the teeth cutting and grinding ; the 



the vessel runs back into harbour with her fish, or de- 

 posits them on board some other boat in company. 



Near to land, another mode of fishing is adopted, 

 which is thus described by Mr Couch. "A long deep 

 net is employed, of which, unlike the former, the meshes 

 are too small to admit any of the fish. Two boats are 

 necessary, one of which is rowed round the schull, while 

 the net is thrown overboard by two men to enclose it: the 

 other boat is employed in keeping steady the end of the 

 net, and warping it, the sooner and more surely to pre- 

 vent the escape of the fish. When this is effected, the 

 net stands like a circle, enclosing the captives, and the 

 men proceed to draw it together at the end and bottom; 

 at the same time throwing pebbles at that place where 

 the circle closes, to prevent the approach of the fish to 

 the only place where escape is possible : when at last 

 the enclosure is perfect, and the net raised from the 

 ground, the fish thus brought to the surface are taken on 

 board in flaskets." Such is the mode of proceeding with 

 the seine-net in deep water, or at a distance from shore, 

 but in some places it is hauled on the beach in the 

 manner of a ground-net, with less trouble and expense. 



A third mode of fishing is with the line, and is called 

 railing, (trailing.} The mackerel will bite at any bait 

 that is used to take the smaller kind of fish ; but prefer- 

 ence is given to that which resembles a living and active 

 prey, which is imitated by what is called a lask, along 

 slice cut from the side of one of its own kind near the 

 tail ; it is found, also, that a slip of red leather, or a 

 piece of scarlet cloth, will commonly succeed. The boat 

 is placed under sail, and a smart breeze is considered 

 favourable, hence termed a mackerel-breeze. The line 

 is short, but weighed down by a heavy plummet, and in 

 this manner, when these fish abound, two men will take 

 from five hundred to a thousand a day. It is singular 

 that the greatest number of mackerel are caught when 

 the boat moves most rapidly, and that even then the 

 hook is commonly gorged. It seems that the mackerel 

 takes its food by striking across the course of what is 

 supposed to be its flying prey. 



The Tunny. The common Tunny (Thynnus vul- 

 garis,} is a large fish belonging to the mackerel tribe ; 





although but little known in England, it is an object of 

 considerable importance to many of the nations bordering 

 on the Mediterranean ; to none more so, perhaps, than 

 the Sicilians. The tunnies, like the mackerel, appear 

 in great shoals, or banks, which are believed to enter 

 the Mediterranean at the beginning of April, for the 

 purpose of depositing their spawn ; but it is very likely 

 that instead of coming from any great distance, they 

 VOL. II. 



merely rise from the deeper parts of that sea, in order 

 to reach the shoal water, that the spawn, or ova, may be 

 placed within the influence of the sun's rays. The ap- 

 pearance of the mackerel is said to indicate the approach 

 of the tunnies, these last being voracious fish, and de- 

 vouring great quantities of their smaller brethren. 



At the time when these fish make their periodical ap- 

 pearance, the strongest and the boldest precede their 

 companions at distances determined by their greater 

 vigour or courage. The form assumed by a shoal of 

 tunnies, is that of a long triangle, the weaker fish bring- 

 ing up the rear. The approach of this living mass is 

 perceived at a considerable distance, from the noise 

 which accompanies their rapid movements, for the tail 

 of the tunny is large and powerful, and striking forcibly 

 and rapidly against the water, produces a sound which 

 can be heard at a great way cfT. " This murmuring 

 noise, which is heard from afar, is echoed from rock to 

 rock, and repeated from shore to shore, resembling that 

 dull but imposing sound, which during a deceitful calm 

 on a burning summer's day, announces the approach of 

 a hurricane." 



In spite, however, of their number, their strength, 

 and their swiftuess, a sudden noise will often arrest the 

 whole shoal in the middle of their course, or even the 

 unexpected appearance of any bright object. If we may 

 believe the reasoning of Pliny, the Roman naturalist, 

 who speaking of the tunny, says, " in the spring, the 

 tunnies pass in troops, composed of numerous individu- 

 als, from the Mediterranean into the Euxine or the 

 Black sea, and in the strait which separates Europe 

 from Asia, a rock of dazzling whiteness, and of great 

 elevation, rises near Chalcedony, on the Asiatic shore ; 

 and the sudden appearance of this rock, terrifies the 

 tunnies to such an extent, as to force them to alter their 

 course, and suddenly turn towards the Cape of Byzan- 

 tium, opposite the Chalcedonian shore; and this forced 

 direction of the course of these fish, causes the fishery 

 to be very abundant near the Cape of Byzantium." The 

 usual size of this fish is from two to three feet in length; 

 they are at times, however, taken as long as ten feet. 

 Aristotle mentions an old tunny which weighed upwards 

 of two hundred weight. 



The tunny-fishery was attended to with great care by 

 the ancients, and still employs a vast number of hands 

 in different parts of the Mediterranean, chiefly in Cata- 

 lonia, Provence, Liguria, Sardinia, and, as we have 

 already mentioned, Sicily. 



The tunnies are taken in two ways. In the first case, 

 when a sentinel, posted on an elevated spot, has made a 

 signal that the fish are in view, and has pointed out the 

 quarter from which they are coming, a number of boats 

 put to sea under the command of a leader, and arrange 

 themselves in a curve, and joining their nets form an 

 enclosure, which alarms the tunnies, and gradually 

 drives them into closer ranks : they still continue to 

 add fresh nets, continually driving the fish towards the 

 shore. When they have reached water only a few 

 fathoms in depth, they cast their last and largest net, 

 which has a kind of pocket or long bag attached to it; 

 this they draw towards the land, and with it they bring 

 all the fish. The small ones are then taken out with 

 the hands, and the larger are landed after they are des- 

 patched with boat hooks. This mode of fishing, which 

 is employed on the coast of Languedoc, produces some- 

 times at a single take as much as fifteen ton weight of 

 fish. 



The second mode is that with nets, called by the 



