FISHES. 25 



The Burbots (blennius vivaparous) have a naked slimy 

 skin, thick, stumpy heads, and of a foul yellow color, 

 spotted with black ; are more than a foot Jong, and weigh 

 one pound ; the nostrils are extended and reed-shaped. 

 These fish, also called Eel-pouts, bring their young, 

 living, to the world, often to the number of three hun- 

 dred. They inhabit the depths of the North and Baltic 

 Seas. Their flesh is bad ; their food consists of the spawn 

 of fish, crabs, and worms. 



The Sea Vfolf (ananichas lupus), plate 20, fig. 10, 

 has a thick, obtuse head, small scales, and is slimy ; the 

 body is clumsy, the mouth wide, with large tuberculous 

 teeth ; the dorsal and anal fins are very long. It meas- 

 ures four feet ; gray above, blue-gray on the sides ; the 

 tongue smooth and fleshy, and it is said to bite so fiercely 

 as to leave the marks of its hard teeth on an anchor. 

 Shell fish are its favorite food, the hardest of which it- 

 crushes easily within its jaws ; but it is also a determined 

 enemy to other fish. Ferocious and ravenous, it is not 

 only formidable to the inhabitants of the deep, but the 

 fishermen also dread it, as, when captured, it makes a 

 furious resistance, and fastens upon everything within its 

 reach. It is found only in the northern seas, where it 

 deposits its spawn near the coast. The flesh is fat and 

 solid, but not well tasted. The Greenlanders use the 

 skin to make bags, etc. 



The Gudgeons (gobius niger) are wedge-shaped and 

 slimy, with small scales ; six inches long ; the fins of a 

 beautiful black ; found everywhere in Europe, but espe- 

 cially abound in the Mediterranean. The sea gudgeons, 

 if they can not find crevices in the rocks, dig canals in 

 the mud at the bottom, and in spawning time construct a 

 roomy dwelling in the sea grass, with which these canals 



