J3 L 



LAKES AND STREAMS 



Barbel. 



A different type is presented by the barbel (Barbm vulgaris), 

 which takes its name from its four barbels, and is further character- 

 ised by the projecting upper jaw, slender body, and olive-green colour, which at the 

 sides changes into greenish yellow with dark spots. It is common in the larger 

 rivers of central Europe, especially the Rhine and the Danube, where it grows to a 

 large size, occasionally attaining a weight of 40 lbs.; and it was sufficiently 

 well known and appreciated in the Middle Ages to be used heraldically in the 

 arms of one of the queens of England, Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry the 

 Sixth. There is no fish more subject to internal parasites, which is perhaps 

 the cause of its deserved reputation for unwholesomeness, this being alluded to in 

 the aforesaid old sporting book, where the barbel is described as " a cpuasy mete and a 

 peryllous for mannys bodye." It was, however, in good repute among the Romans, 

 for Juvenal 

 tells us that 

 Or i spinus 

 gave six 



sestertia for 

 a barbel 



weighing (i 

 lbs., and re- 

 marks that 

 lie might 



have bought the fisherman cheaper than 

 the fish. Its food is partly of an animal 

 and partly of a vegetable nature, and 

 during the months the barbel is most 

 active it feeds principally on the larvaB of 

 insects and on worms and small fishes. It 

 generally keeps near the ground and will 

 dig into the soft bed of the stream, which 



is the reason why anglers stir up the bottom with a gudgeon-rake before com- 

 mencing operations. The Carpathian barbel (B. petenyi), from the rivers of the 

 Carpathians and the Vistula, but stated to occur also in the Lohe, a tributary of 

 the Oder, is closely allied. Another species of this genus is the Dalmatian barbel 

 (B. plebejus), from Dalmatia, Italy, and perhaps Spain, in which the body is 

 thicker and more rounded, the muzzle shorter and blunter, and the scales are 

 smaller than in the typical species. The Russian barbel (B. chahjbeat as), from the 

 Caspian region is another form. To this genus also belongs the mahsir or mahasir 

 of India. 



A near relative of the barbel is the familiar gudgeon (Gobio 

 fiuviatiZis), which lias a short dorsal fin without any spine, and a 

 small barbel at each angle of the mouth. Like the barbel, it is carnivorous ; and it 

 swims close to the bottom and hides in the mud during winter. Its capture is 

 most easily effected by stirring up the bottom of the stream witli a rake, small 

 shoals assembling from considerable distances to feed on the worms and insects 

 disturbed in this manner. During winter this fish lives in deep water, which is 



THT! BARBEL. 



Gudgeon. 



