CHESIL BEACH FISH. 167 



defending its nest from the wolf fish, upon the neck of which it 

 first fastens by means of its sucker, and then inflicts a mortal 

 wound with its teeth. 



I now come to the boar fish (Capros aper), which has excited a 

 good deal of attention on account of its very great beauty and its 

 former rarity on the British coasts. 



As a rule I find that the fishermen take very little note of any- 

 thing except mackerel, but, as far as I can learn from them, the first 

 appearance of the boar fish on the Chesil Beach was four or five 

 years ago, when a very few were taken. They have been present 

 every year since that time more or less, but this year they were 

 exceedingly abundant during the early part of the season about 

 April and May, hundreds being often taken in one cast of the net. 

 They then became much rarer for a time, and about July appeared 

 again for a few weeks, but not in such abundance as at first. 

 Yarrcll, writing in 1836, speaks of only two British specimens of 

 this fish, one taken in Mounts Bay, the other procured from 

 Bridgwater Fish Market. It is a Mediterranean and West Atlantic 

 fish, occurring from France to Madeira. Bucklarid says, in his 

 " Xat. Hist, of British Fish," that ince its first appearance in 

 1825 in Mounts Bay it has gradually increased in abundance in 

 certain limited tracts. In 1841 at Falmouth, and in 1843 at 

 Plymouth, it appeared in numbers, and the fishermen state that 

 within the last few years it has swarmed to such an extent as 

 to have become a perfect pest, and that in many instances the 

 trawlers have been actually obliged to change their fishing ground 

 in order to get out of its way. 



The boarfish is about 5| inches in length, 1\ inches in depth, 

 and | inch in thickness. The mouth is retractile, and can be pro- 

 jected forwards in the form of a tube, about fin. long. These fish 

 generally keep their mouths drawn back, but can shoot out and 

 draw them back very quickly, and some of them did this when 

 lying on the beach after being taken out of the water, and also 

 when alive in a tank. The colour of the body is bright scarlet on 

 the back, shading into a beautiful silvery white- underneath, some 



