SPINOUS FISH. 



317 



to 1 756 inclusive, amounted to nearly thirty 

 thousand hogsheads each year ; every hogs- 

 head has amounted, upon an average, to the 

 price of one pound thirteen shillings and 

 threepence. Thus the money paid for pilchards 

 exported, has annually amounted to near fifty 

 thousand pounds." 



Whence these infinite numbers are derived, 

 still remains obscure ; but it will increase our 

 wonder to be told, that so small a fish as the 

 stickleback, which is seldom above two inches 

 long, and that one would think could easily 

 find support in any water, is yet obliged to 

 colonize, and leave its native fens in search of 

 new habitations. Once every seventh or eighth 

 year, amazing s.hoals of these appear in the 

 river Welland, near Spalding, and come up 

 the stream, forming one great column. There 

 are supposed to be multitudes collected in some 

 of the fens, till overcharged with numbers, 

 they are periodically obliged to migrate. An 

 idea may be had of their numbers, when we 

 are informed, that a man, employed by a 

 farmer to take them, for the purpose of man- 

 uring his grounds, has got, for a considerable 

 time, four shillings a day by selling them at 

 a halfpenny a bushel ! 



Thus we see the amazing propagation of 



anterior to a vertical line dropped from the first dorsal 

 ray, with forty-eight vertebrae; the white-bait has fifty-six 

 vertebra, with the origin of the ventral fins placed behind 

 the third ray of the dorsal. In the pilchard the dorsal 

 fin is placed exactly in the centre of gravity, so that 

 when the fish is held up by the anterior rays, the body 

 preserves an equilibrium, whereas if the white- bait, 

 herring, or sprat, be taken up by the same part, the head 

 will be observed to dip considerably. 



The stomach of the white-bait I have found frequently 

 filled with minute Crustacea. 



Sprat or Garvie Herring, (Clupea sprattus.) This little 

 fish, although well known to every one by the name of Sprat 

 or Garvie herring, is not admitted by all to be a distinct 

 species, being considered as the young of the pilchard or 

 the herring. This mistake is not to be wondered at, 

 since authors either omit the most important characters, 

 or place reliance on characters which do not exist. 



Sprats are found in the Frith of Forth, throughout the 

 whole of the year, and, like many small animals, appear 

 to be very susceptible of cold. During the warm sum- 

 mer months, they are seen sporting about in large shoals, 

 in every part of the Frith, occupying a considerable ex- 

 tent of water, and causing a ripple on the surface with 

 their fins, while they become the principal food of many 

 marine birds, which assail them in the water, or prey on 

 them from above. As the cold weather advances, these 

 little fish are no longer seen in the lower part of the 

 estuary, but are found to ascend the Frith to a consider- 

 able distance, and to select that part of the river where 

 the fresh and salt waters mingle together ; for it is a well 

 known law in chemistry, that when two fluids of differ- 

 ent densities come in contact, the temperature of the 

 mixture is elevated for a time in proportion to the dif- 

 ference in density of the two fluids. Owing to mutual 

 penetration and condensation, such a mixture is con- 

 stantly taking place in the rivers that run into the sea, 

 and the temperature of the mixed water is accordingly 

 elevated. In the year 1830, the sprat was remarkably 

 abundant all over the British coast, but more particularly 



fishes along our own coasts and rivers ; but 

 their numbers bear no proportion to the vast 

 quantities found among the islands of the In- 

 dian ocean. The inhabitants of these coun- 

 tries are not under the necessity even of pro- 

 viding instruments for fishing: it is but going 

 down to the shore, and there the fish are found 

 in great numbers in the plashes that still con- 

 tinue to have water in them. In some of these 

 places the quantity is so great that they are 

 left in shoals on those swamps, dried up by 

 the sun, and their putrefaction contributes to 

 render the country unhealthful. 



This power of increasing in these animals, 

 exceeds our ideas, as it would in a very short 

 time outstrip all calculation. A single herring, 

 if suffered to multiply unmolested and undi- 

 minished for twenty years, would show a pro- 

 geny greater in bulk than ten such globes as 

 that we live upon. But happily the balance 

 of Nature is exactly preserved ; and their con- 

 sumption is equal to their fecundity. For this 

 reason we are to consider the porpoise, the 

 shark, or the cod-fish, not in the light of plun- 

 derers and rivals, but of benefactors to man- 

 kind. Without their assistance, the sea would 

 soon become overcharged with the burden of 

 its own productions ; and that element, which 



on the coasts of Kent and Essex, where they were taken 

 in immense quantity, so that they were sold at sixpence 

 a bushel as manure for the land. 



The sprat is generally considered as a delicious well- 

 flavoured and wholesome fish, and is eaten in consider- 

 able quantity in this country, both in the fresh and salted 

 conditions, but is very seldom brought to the Edinburgh 

 market. They spawn early in the month of March, and 

 feed on small crustaceous animals. 



The most common size of a sprat is from four to five 

 inches in length, but it is observed occasionally to exceed 

 six inches and a half, when it is named in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Alloa the King of Garvies. 



The colour of the back is a deep glossy blue, the sides, 

 belly, and gill-covers of a pure silvery white, passing 

 into green and blue reflections, when viewed in different 

 lights; the dorsal and caudal fins dusky, minutely spotted 

 with black ; the pectoral and ventral fins white, slightly 

 tinged with orange. On the crown of the head is a ilark 

 spot placed between the eyes, which is very perceptibly 

 seen when young, but as the fish increases in size the 

 spot gradually becomes obliterated. The eye is large, the 

 diameter being not less than one-fourth of the whole 

 head ; the upper and lower margins are tinged with 

 black. Each operculum has a slight notch placed on 

 its upper and posterior edge. The teeth in the jaws are 

 small, slender, and few in number; they are situated on 

 the most anterior parts, and are more obvious on the 

 lower than on the upper jaw; the tongue as well as the 

 roof of the mouth is also armed with fine teeth, their 

 points being slightly bent inwards. The under jaw is 

 the longest. The belly is strongly serrated as far as 

 the anal aperture. The convexity of the dorsal and ab- 

 dominal lines is much greater than is observed either in 

 the white-bait or the herring. 



The sprat differs from the herring, white-bait, pilchard, 

 and shad, in two most striking characters; in having only 

 forty-eight vertebras, and in having the origin of the 

 ventral fins placed before a vertical line dropped from 

 the commencement of the first dorsal ray. 



