SOFT-FINNED FISFI. 



307 



head elongated ; the fin covering the gills 

 with a single ray , the opening to the gills is 

 linear, and has no bone covering them. 



Such is the system of Mr Gouan ; by re- 

 ducing to which any fish that offers, we can 

 know its rank, its affinities, and partly its 

 anatomy, all which make a considerable part 

 in its natural history. But to show the use 

 of this system still more apparently, suppose 

 I meet with a fish, the name to me unknown, 

 of which I desire to know something more. 

 The way is first to see whether it be a cartil- 

 aginous fish, which may be known by its 

 wanting fins to open and shut the gills, which 

 the cartilaginous kinds are wholly without. 

 If I find that it has them, then it is a spinous 

 fish ; and in order to know its kind, I examine 

 its fins whether they be prickly or soft ; I find 



length. The colour of the back is dusky ; the dorsal 

 and ventral fins of the same colour ; the head, sides, and 





helly, are of a greenish cast, most beautifully mixed with 

 gold, which is in its greatest splendour when the fish is 

 in highest season. They love still waters, and are rarely 

 found in rivers; they are very foolish, and easily caught. 

 This is one of those fish that prefer foul and weedy 

 waters ; and its haunts in rivers are chiefly amongst 

 weeds, and in places well shaded with rushes. These 

 fish thrive best in standing waters, where they lie under 

 weeds near sluices and pond-heads. They are much 

 more numerous in pools and pits than in rivers ; but those 

 taken in the latter are far preferable for the table. They 

 begin to spawn in June, and may be found spawning in 

 some waters till September. The best season is from 

 that time Mil the end of May. These fish do not often 

 exceed four or five pounds in weight. Mr Pennant, 

 hou'ever, mentions one that weighed ten pounds. Tench 

 are in great repute with us as delicious and wholesome 

 food ; but in Guernsey they are considered bad fish, and 

 in contempt called shoemaker. Gesner even says, that 

 it is insipid and unwholesome. Like the barbel, it was 

 unnoticed by early writers ; and Ausonius, by whom it 

 was first mentioned, treats it with that disrespect which 

 evinces the capriciousness of taste. These fish are 

 sometimes found in waters where the mud is excessively 

 fetid, and the weeds so thick that a hand-net can hardly 

 be thrust down. In these situations they grow to a large 

 aize, and their exterior becomes completely tinged by the 

 mud. Their flavour from this, if cooked immediately 

 un being taken out, is often very unpleasant ; but if they 

 are transferred into clear water, they soon recover from 

 the obnoxious taint. A tench was taken at Thornville- 

 Iloyal in Yorkshire, in 1802, of such enormous size, and 

 so singular in its shape, as rather to be accounted a lusus 

 natural than a regular product. A piece of water which 

 kid been ordered to be filled up, and into which wood 

 end rubbish had been thrown for some years, was directed 

 to be cleared out. So little water remained, and in such 

 quantity were the weeds and mud, that it was expected 

 :io fish would be found, except perhaps a few eels ; but, 

 greatly to the surprise of the persons employed, nearly 

 two hundred brace of tench, arid as many perch, were 

 discovered. After the pond was supposed to be quite 



them soft ; it is therefore to be ranked among 

 the soft-finned fishes. I then examine its ven- 

 tral or belly fins, and finding that the fish has 

 them, I look for their situation, and find they 

 lie nearer to the tail than the pectoral fins. 

 By this I find the animal to be a soft-finned 

 abdominal fish. Then, to know which of the 

 kinds of these fishes it is, I examine its figure 

 and the shape of its head : I find the body 

 rather oblong ; the head with a small beak ; 

 the lower jaw like a saw ; the fin covering the 

 gills with eight rays. This animal must, 

 therefore, be the herring, or one of that family, 

 such as the pilchard, the sprat, the shad, or 

 the anchovy. To give another instance : upon 

 examining the fins of a fish to me unknown, I 

 find them prickly; I then look for the situation 

 of the ventral fins; I find them entirely want- 

 cleared, an animal was observed to be under some roots, 

 which was conjectured to be an otter. The place was 

 surrounded ; and on making an opening, a tench was 

 found of a most singular form, having literally taken the 

 shape of the hole in which he had of course been many 

 years confined. His length was four feet nine inches, 

 his circumference two feet three inches, and his weight 

 near twelve pounds. The colour was also singular, his 

 belly being tinged with vermilion like that of a char. 

 This extraordinary animal, after having been examined 

 by many gentlemen, was carefully put into a pond. At 

 first it merely floated, and after a while it swam gently 

 away. When Mr Daniel produced his " Rural Sports " 

 it was alive and well. 



The Chub. This fish, which is called cheven, nab, 

 or, botlJng, very much resembles the carp, but is of a 



longer form. The body is oblong, rather round, and is 

 of an equal thickness in the greater part of the slope ; 

 the scales are large ; the iricles silvery; the cheeks of 

 the same colour ; the head and back of a deep dusky 

 green; the sides silvery, but in the summer yellow; the 

 belly white ; the pectoral fins of a pale yellow ; the ven- 

 tral and anal fins red ; and the tail forked, of a brownish 

 hue, but tinged with blue at the end. It is altogether a 

 handsome fish, but in no esteem for the table, being very 

 coarse, and when out of season full of small hairy bones : 

 the roe however is veiy good ; and this fish stewed as 

 carp will, it is said, deceive a connoisseur. Its name 

 is derived from the shape of the head, cop being an old 

 English word for head ; and the French and Italians 

 know it by a name synonymous with ours. The haunts 

 of these fish are rivers whose bottoms are of sand or clay, 

 or which are bounded by clayey banks, in deep holes, 

 under hollow banks, shaded by trees or weeds. They 

 are also found in the Esk, a river noted for the crystal- 

 line clearness of its waters, flowing over a rocky bottom. 

 These fish often float on the surface, and are sometimes 

 found in deep waters, where the currents are strong. In 

 ponds fed by a rivulet they grow to a large size. They 

 seldom, however, exceed the weight of four or five 

 pounds, though Salvanus speaks of them as increasing 

 to eight or nine. They deposit their spawn in April ; 

 and are in great perfection during the months of Decem- 

 ber and January. 



