OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 



241 



keep to the sea, and would quickly expire in 

 fresh water. In that extensive and undis- 

 covered abode, millions reside, whose manners 

 are a secret to us, and whose very form is 

 unknown. The curiosity of mankind, indeed, 

 has drawn some from their depths, and his 

 wants many more ; with the figure of these 

 at least he is acquainted ; but for their pur- 

 suits, migrations, societies, antipathies, plea- 

 sures, times of gestation, and manner of 

 bringing forth, these are all hidden in the 

 turbulent element that protects them. 



The number of fish to which we have given 

 names, and of the figure, at least, of which 

 we know something, according to Linnaeus, 



extensive migrations at certain seasons of the year in 

 incalculable numbers between the coasts of the west of 

 Europe, and north-east of America. Fishes are in 

 great proportion carnivorous animals, and as they have 

 no feet with which to hold their prey, are supplied with a 

 variety of other contrivances for mastering it. Some 

 have long fibrous threads (cirri} about the mouth, for the 

 purpose of enticing other small marine animals, as with 

 a bait, as in the stargazer, frog-fish, &c. Others, as 

 the chaetodon rostratus, have a kind of syringe with which 

 they strike down the insects flying over the surface of 

 the water ; others, as the three sea-fish, the electric ray, 

 the tetrodon clectricus, and trichiurus indicus, and the 

 two fresh-water fish, the electric eel and silurus electri- 

 cus, possess a peculiar benumbing paralyzing power, &c. 



As to the external senses of fishes, smelling must in 

 many be veiy acute, from the distance at which they 

 discover a bait. Their hearing, also, is good, and they 

 have organs similar to those of the internal ear in other 

 red-blooded animals. Above all, however, there are 

 many peculiarities in their eyes, numerous membranes, 

 parts not found elsewhere, &c. From the deficiency of 

 correct observations, little can be said decidedly on their 

 instincts, and other mental faculties. It is known, 

 however, that many, trout for example, become very 

 docile ; and that others, as old carp, are very wary and 

 cunning. 



As to their sleep, probably most have a winter sleep, 

 but only a very few a fixed daily sleep, as is said to be 

 the case with the gold-fish. 



Except the small number of viviparous fishes, such as 

 the eel, the blennius viviparous, but very few actually 

 copulate. In most instances, the female lays the unim- 

 pregnated eggs, the male coming afterwards and sprinkl- 

 ing them with his semen. Advantage of this circum- 

 stance has been taken in rural economy, young fish hav- 

 ing been procured by the artificial mixture of the ova 

 and semen of trout, &c. Among other peculiarities in 

 the mode of generation in fishes, many, as the lamprey, 

 possess the organs of both sexes in perfection: whilst in 

 oUiers, as the carp, anomalous instances of hermaphro- 

 dites are found. 



The increase in the numbers of most fishes is wonder- 

 fully great, so that although the ova are in most instances 

 proportionally much smaller than in any other class of 

 animals, the ovaria of many are larger than the whole 

 of the body. Thus, in the herring, there have been 

 counted from 20,COO to 37,000 ova ; in the carp, up- 

 wards of 200,000; in the tench, 383,000; in the floun- 

 der, upwards of a million. 



In some cases, the young fish have not their perfect 

 form when they escape from the egg; but must, as in 

 the amphibia, undergo a kind of metamorphosis by which 

 they obtain fins, &c. 



In proportion to their size, fishes reach a very ad- 

 vanced age. Examples are known of carp, pike, &c., 



V0i*ii. 



are above four hundred. 1 Thus to appear- 

 ance, indeed, the history of fish is tolerably 

 copious ; but when we come to examine, it will ' 

 be found that of the greatest part of these we 

 know very little. Those qualities, singular- 

 ities, or advantages, that render animals worth 

 naming, still remain to be discovered. The 

 history of fishes, therefore, has little in it en- 

 tertaining : for our philosophers hitherto, in- 

 stead of studying their nature, have been em. 

 ployed in increasing their catalogues ; and 

 the reader, instead of observations or facts, is 

 presented with a long list of names, that dis- 

 gust him with their barren superfluity. It 

 must displease him to see -the- language of 

 science increasing, while the science itself 

 has nothing to repay the increasing tax laid 

 upon his memory. 



living 150 years. On the other hand, some small fishes, 

 as the stickleback, live only a few years. 



The utility of fishes to man is not very various; for 

 the most part only as food, but in this respect of the 

 utmost importance to a great part of the human race, 

 who live only on this class of animals. Savage nations, 

 as the Kamschatkadales, Brazilians, &c., possess the art 

 of preparing fish in a great variety of ways, even as a 

 kind of flour, bread, &c. With many, as the islanders 

 of the Pacific ocean, fishing forms a principal occupation, 

 and a serious kind of study with reference to the ingen- 

 ious methods and instruments which they have invented. 

 To a great part of the cultivated world, the taking of the 

 herring, the cod, tunny, &c., is of still greater value. 

 The oil of the shark, cod, and herring, is used for burn- 

 ing in lamps, &c. The inhabitants of the eastern coasts 

 of the middle of Asia, clothe themselves with the tanned 

 skin of the salmon. Many parts of other fish are em- 

 ployed for purposes of art, as the scales of the bleak for 

 making false pearls. Shagreen is made from the skin 

 of sharks and rays ; isinglass from the sturgeon, &c. 



Fishes of prey are the' most noxious, particularly the 

 shark in the ocean, and the pike in fresh water. Many 

 fishes, at least in certain spots, are poisonous, and prove 

 fatal when eaten. Such, in particular, are certain spe- 

 cies of the genus tetrodon. 



The systematic classification of fishes appears to stand 

 in need of much improvement. In the mean time they 

 are arranged in two principal divisions, viz: 



(A.) Cartilaginous fishes (Pisces cartitoginef), without 

 true bones: and 



(B.) Bony fishes (Pisces spinosi), having bones, fishes 

 properly so called. 



The cartilaginous fishes are divided into the following 

 two Orders, which M. de Lacepede has established, ac- 

 cording to the presence or absence of the covering of the 

 gills (operculum), and has divided the genera which they 

 include accordingly : 



Order I. Chondropten/gii, Without an operculum. 

 II. Branchiostegi. With an operculum. 



Linn&eus has arranged the osseous, or true 

 fishes, according to the character and posi- 

 tion of the ventral fins : viz. 



III. Apodes. Without ventral fins. 



IV. Jugulares. Having the ventral in the front 



of the pectoral fins. 

 V. Thoracici. Having the ventral immediately 



below the pectoral fins. 

 VI. Abdominales. Having the ventral behind 



the pectoral fins. 



1 About 1500 species of fish are now known, and ot 

 this number about 200 are found on the coast or in the 

 inland waters of Britain. 



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