284 SKEAT. SALMON. 



upper jaw is adorned with six small beards. The body is 

 smooth and slippery ; the colour of the head, back, and 

 sides, is sometimes white, at others a dirty yellow, elegantly 

 marked with large spots ; the belly and ventral fins are 

 white ; all the other fins are spotted. 



THE SKEAT, 



This fish has sometimes been caught in the Vistula, 

 measuring sixteen feet in length and twenty-seven inches 

 in breadth. It is found likewise in several lakes and rivers 

 of Germany, usually keeping close to the bottom. It is 

 extremely voracious, but its flesh is held in considerable 

 estimation. The back is dusky, like that of an eel; and 

 the belly and sides are variegated with white and black 

 spaces, or large spots. The body is slimy, thick, and 

 roundish; the head broad and flat; and the mouth ex- 

 tremely wide. In the upper jaw, before the eyes, are two 

 very long and hard barbs ; and four more depend from 

 the lower lip, but more short and slender. The flesh is 

 dressed in the same manner as the eel. 



THE SALMON. 



This very valuable fish is chiefly, if not altogether, con- 

 fined to the northern latitudes. It is unknown in the Me- 

 diterranean, but extends as far north as Greenland. In 

 some countries it constitutes a principal resource of the 

 inhabitants as an article of food and commerce. There 

 are stationary fisheries of salmon in Iceland, Norway, and 

 the Baltic; at Coleraine, in Ireland; at Berwick-upon- 

 Tweed; at Aberdeen, in Scotland; and various other 

 places. In all parts of Europe the size of these fishes is 

 nearly the same ; the largest weighing from thirty to forty 

 pounds ; though some have been caught of much greater 

 magnitude, weighing seventy pounds. 



The salmon is so generally known, that a brief descrip- 

 tion of its figure and colours may suffice in this place. 

 The body is longish, and covered with small thin scaJes; 

 the head small in proportion to the size, the snout sharp, 



