174 FISHING GOSSIP. 



inent of the fins of the wels are entirely in accordance 

 with its mode of life ; being a bottom-fish it does not 

 require a development of those fins by which the body 

 is balanced and kept suspended in the water ; there- 

 fore pectorals, ventrals, and dorsal are small. The 

 only motion necessary for its subsistence is to dart 

 after the fish which approach it ; to enable it to do 

 this with rapidity, either forwards or sideways, its 

 long flexible tail is admirably adapted, the anal fin 

 increasing the surface of the organ, and rendering the 

 stroke more powerful. For the same purpose the 

 pike has the dorsal and anal fins placed far backwards, 

 close to the caudal. 



All the upper parts and the fins are bluish-black, 

 passing into blackish-green on the sides ; the lower 

 parts whitish, marbled with black. 



The wels is the largest species of fresh-water fish 

 in Europe, the sturgeons belonging as much to the 

 marine as to the fresh-water fauna ; specimens from 



4 to 5 feet long, and from 50 to 80 Ibs. in weight, are 

 of common occurrence, and single individuals of 4 or 



5 cwt. are caught almost every year ; their increase 

 with age is proportionately much more in girth than 

 in length, and they sometimes attain such a size in 

 the body as to exceed the compass of a man's arms. 

 The wels is very sedentary in its habits, lying in a 

 hole or behind some projecting object during the day, 

 and moving slowly about in the night, but never to a 



