FISHING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 



Its peculiarity is that, instead of the ordinary gill-opening, 

 it has two holes in its neck ; its eyes are situated on the 

 top of the head, so that the fish always looks upwards ; 

 its skin has no scales. With it will probably be found the 

 jaune doree, or yellow gilt fish, which has been vulgarly 

 anglicised as " John Dory." It may be remembered that 

 this fish, like the haddock, has an oval black spot on 

 either side ; from which the pious southern fisher-folk 

 argue that it was from the dory's mouth that St. Peter 

 took the tribute money, the marks being the impress of 

 his finger-tips ; unfortunately for the truth of the legend, 

 there is neither dory nor haddock in the Sea of Galilee or 

 in any other fresh water. Another fish of the same family, 

 which only the poorer Italians will eat, is the boar-fish, 

 whose head is shaped like the snout of a hog. 



The fisherman of the south of France has a valued 

 friend in the maigre, a doubtful one in the pilot fish, and a 

 deadly enemy in the shark. The least known and most 

 interesting of these, the maigre, can be taken with long 

 lines, but quite as often goes of its own accord into a net 

 and stays there. Its average length is four feet, though 

 fishermen boast of having taken many six and seven feet 

 long. When it finds itself among a number of other fish, 

 it emits a humming or buzzing noise that is plainly 

 audible through fifteen fathoms of water, and in this way 

 it is an infallible guide to the men as to where they should 

 shoot the nets. It figured in Roman feasts as the umbrina, 

 and is still a great delicacy in France and Italy, especially 

 its head. Its internal hearing apparatus was worn, set in 

 gold, in the Middle Ages, as a charm against colic. 



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