The Lump-Fish.-] OF ORKNEY. 177 



GENUS FIJ.THE LUMP-FISH. 



Gen, Char. Thick body ; arched back ; ventral tins united ; four brauchioste- 



gous rays. 



Species 1. The Lump-Fish. 



Lump or Sea-Owl; Scotis, Cock- Paddle, Wil. Icth. 208. Raii Syn. Pise. 

 77. Cyclopterus Lumpus, Lin. Sys. 414. Lumpus Anglorum, nostratibus 

 the Cock-Paddle, Sib. Scot. 24. Brit. Zool. 103. Brit. Zool. Illus. 28, tab. 

 29, Jig. 1,2. Ore. Padle. 



THE Padle, as it is here called, is very frequent in our 

 harbours, especially on the sand-banks, where I have seen half 

 a dozen drawn ashore in a net at once, but never of any great 

 bulk. It is an oddly-shaped creature ; the back rises into a 

 sort of hunch, on which is a part something resembling the 

 comb of a cock ; the side of the belly and sides have rows 

 of hard tubercles, running along them towards the tail ; the 

 whole skin is rough, and the colour of those found in our 

 harbour is black on the back, and greenish on the belly ; 

 whether they change colour as they increase in bulk, I know 

 not. 



The most curious part of this curious fish is a hollow under 

 the pectoral fins, by which it adheres with great firmness to 

 the stones, or. any thing else where it can fix itself, so that 

 when once it is fixed there is no removing it, and the stone 



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