THE RED MULLET FAMILY 



THE fishes of this family are all very similar to one another 

 and to our red mullet. They have a rather round body, 

 with large thin scales, which are firmly attached to the skin. 

 There are two dorsal fins which are both short, the first spiny, 

 the second soft, and a ventral fin below the latter. The pelvic 

 fins are directly beneath the breast-fins. The head has a front 

 surface sloping down to the flat under surface, and the jaws and 

 mouth are at the lower part. Beneath the chin are two long 

 stiff barbels, which can be thrust forward and moved about or 

 laid back in the groove between the sides of the lower jaw. Red 

 mullets occur chiefly in tropical seas, and none are large. They 

 live in the neighbourhood of the coasts, on the bottom. 



The Red Mullet (Mullus surmulletus, and barbatus). 



Besides the characters given above it is necessary to mention 

 the teeth and the colour. There are two rows of rather blunt 

 teeth in the lower jaw, none in the upper ; none on the tongue, 

 but rounded ones on the palate. In colour two forms are dis- 

 tinguished and it has not yet been finally decided whether these 

 are different kinds or varieties. It seems certain that they are not 

 different sexes. The one is the plain red mullet, the other the 

 surmullet or striped mullet, which has a beautiful red colour on 

 the back and sides, and also three to five bright yellow bands 

 passing along the sides from the head to the tail. The Italian 

 naturalist, Raffaele, at Naples, states that the striped fish bred by 

 themselves in a tank of the aquarium, and that the eggs and 

 young of the other kind were smaller. It appears, therefore, that 



