SPINOUS FISH. 



319 



and between five and six, they are those full- 

 grown fish that are served up to our tables. 

 In the same manner, with regard to flat fishes, 

 they tell us, that the turbot and barbel at one 

 year are about the size of a crown-piece ; the 

 second year, as large as the palm of one's 

 hand ; and at the fifth and sixth year, they are 

 large enough to be served Up to table. Thus 

 it appears, that fish are a considerable time 

 in coming to their full growth, and that they 

 are a long time destroyed before it comes to 

 their turn to be destroyers. 1 



All fish live upon each other in some state 

 of their existence. Those with the largest 

 mouths attack and devour the larger kinds ; 

 those whose mouths are less, lie in wait for 

 the smaller try; and even these chiefly subsist 

 upon spawn. Of those which live in the ocean, 

 of the spinous kinds, the dorado is the most 

 voracious. This is chiefly found in the tro- 

 pical climates ; and is at once the most active 

 and the most beautiful of the finny region. 

 It is about six feet long ; the back all over 

 enamelled with spots of a bluish green and 

 silver ; the tail and fins of a gold colour ; 

 and all have a brilliancy of tint, that nothing 

 but nature's pencil can attain to; the eyes are 

 placed on each side of the head, large and beau- 

 tiful, surrounded with circles of shining gold. 

 In the seas where they are found, these fish are 

 always in motion, and play round ships in full 

 sail with ease and security : for ever either 

 pursuing or pursued, they are seen continu- 

 ally in a state of warfare ; either defending 

 themselves against the shark, or darting after 

 the smaller fishes. Of all others, the Flying- 

 fish most abounds in these seas ; and as it is 

 a small animal, seldom growing above the 

 size of a herring, it is chiefly sought by the 

 dorado. Nature has furnished each respec- 

 tively with the powers of pursuit and evasion. 

 The dorado being above six feet long, yet not 

 thicker than a salmon, and furnished with a 

 full compliment of fins, cuts its way through 

 the water with amazing rapidity : on the 

 other hand, .the flying fish is furnished with 

 two pair of fins longer than the body, and 

 these also moved by a stronger set of muscles 

 than any other. This equality of power seems 

 to furnish one of the most entertaining spec- 

 tacles those seas can exhibit. The efforts to 

 seize on the one side, and the arts of escaping 

 on the other, are perfectly amusing. The 

 dorado is seen, upon this occasion, darting 

 after its prey, which will not leave the water, 

 while it has the advantage of swimming, in 

 the beginning of the chase. But, like a 

 hunted hare, being tired at last, it then has 

 recourse to another expedient for safety by 



1 Traite des Peches, par Monsieur Duhamel. Sect. 

 3. p. 100. 



flight. The long fins, which began to grow 

 useless in the water, are now exerted in a dif- 

 ferent manner, and different direction, to that 

 in which they were employed in swimming : 

 by this means, the timid IHtle" animal rises 

 from the water, and flutters over its surface 

 for two or three hundred yards, till the mus- 

 cles employed in moving the wings are en- 

 feebled by that particular manner of exertion. 

 By this time, however, they have acquired a 

 fresh power of renewing their efforts in the 

 water, and the animal is capable of proceed, 

 ing with some velocity by swimming: still, 

 however, the active enemy keeps it in view, 

 and drives it again from the deep ; till, at 

 length, the poor little creature is seen to dart 

 to shorter distances, to flutter with greater 

 effort, and to drop down at last into the mouth 

 of its fierce pursuer. But not the dorado alone, 

 all animated nature seems combined against 

 this little fish, which seems possessed of double 

 powers, only to be subject to greater dangers. 

 For though it should escape from its enemies 

 of the deep, yet the tropic bird and the alba- 

 tross are for ever upon the wing to seize it. 

 Thus pursued in either element, it sometimes 

 seeks refuge from a new enemy ; and it is 

 not unfrequent for whole shoals of them to fall 

 on shipboard, where they furnish man with 

 an object of useless curiosity. 



The warfare in fresh water is not carried 

 on with such destructive activity ; nor are the 

 inhabitants of that element so numerous. It 

 would seem that there is something more 

 favourable to the fecundity of fishes in the 

 ocean than in an element less impregnated 

 with salt. It has been the opinion of some 

 philosophers that all fish are natives of that 

 great reservoir; and that only colonies have 

 been sent up rivers, either through accident, 

 or the necessity of procuring subsistence. 

 They have been led to this opinion by the 

 superior fecundity of sea-fish, which breed 

 twenty to one ; as well as by their superiority 

 in strength and size, over those of the same 

 kind found in lakes and rivers. This is a 

 matter too remotely speculative to be worth 

 pursuing ; but certain it is that, in fresh water, 

 fishes seem to abate much of their courage and 

 rapacity ; pursue each other with less violence, 

 and seem to be less powerfully actuated by 

 all their appetites. The greediness with 

 which sea-fish devour the bait is prodigious, 

 if compared with the manner they take it in 

 fresh water. The lines of such fishermen as 

 go off to sea are coarse, thick, and clumsy, 

 compared to what are used by those who fish 

 at land. Their baits are seldom more than 

 a piece of a fish, or the flesh of some quadruped, 

 stuck on the hook in a bungling manner ; and 

 scarcely any art is employed to conceal the 

 deception. But it is otherwise in fresh water; 



