590 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



and is much sought after for its delicate flavour when salted and 

 cured. It is a small, slender fish, ahout four to four and a half inches 

 in length ; head pointed, mouth very wide, gill-openings large, ab- 

 domen smooth ; when living it is greenish on the hack, silvery 

 heneath ; after death it changes to a bluish black. The fishery which 

 gives the most abundant results takes place on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, principally on the coast of Sicily, the isles of Elba, 

 Corsica, Antibes, Frejus, Saint-Tropez, and Cannes. They are also 

 taken on the Dalmatian coast, and in the neighbourhood of Bagusa. 



The anchovy is only fit for food after being preserved and salted. 

 The process of curing commences by throwing it into a strong brine ; 

 then, the head and entrails being removed, they are arranged in rows 

 in barrels or boxes of tin, in alternate layers of salt and fish ; finally, 

 after some days of exposure, they are hermetically closed and despatched 

 to market. Those prepared on the Provenpal coast were formerly 

 carried to the fair of Beaucaire, whence they found their way all over 

 France, and to many parts of Europe. Now, the anchovies cured at 

 Marseilles, and other Provenpal ports, are sent direct to the various 

 markets of Europe. 



THE ACANTHOPTEBYGEANS 



include the Perch family, which is altogether a fresh-water fish, and, 

 however interesting in itself, foreign to our present purpose. It 

 includes also the cat-fish, which is also known as the bar, and more 

 commonly the wolf- fish, in Bas-Languedoc and Provence. It is 

 common in the Mediterranean, and in many of the great rivers which 

 empty themselves into it. The Cat-fish (Fig. 386) has the appearance 

 of an elongated perch ; its colour, in the adult state, is of a uniform 

 silvery hue, marked with brown and yellow spots in the young. 



The Weevers (Trachinus), forming another division of this family, 

 are characterised by their very compressed head and the strong spines 

 of the operculum. They are elongated in shape, with short muzzles ; 

 they have a habit of burying themselves in the sand, and are for- 

 midable to fishermen, from the dangerous wounds they inflict with 

 their spines. Trachinus communis (Fig. 387) is widely diffused in 

 the Atlantic and Mediterranean. 



The genus Uranoscopus are so named from the position of their 



