ioo6 



THE NATURE BOOK 



inflicting severe damage on nets. I lately 

 saw a number cruising around the Sea of 

 Marmora and neighbouring waters, their 

 great sail-like fin showing above the sur- 

 face for miles. Several were taken in 

 the local " Talian " nets during my stay 

 in the Gulf of Ismidt, so that I had many 

 opportunities of handling them. Then 

 there is the Sturgeon, a bearded dweller 



and both Cormorants and Razorbills 

 have been found in its stomach. A 

 Cormorant, swallowed whole, should be 

 a dish for an epicure ! 



Now and again the fishermen tell one 

 of curiously shaped fishes in a particu- 

 lar district. As a case in point, mention 

 may be made of the short-nosed Sea- 

 bream familiar round Plymouth, which 



JOHN DORY. 



in Russian rivers, which occasionally' 

 wanders as far as the coasts of Britain. 

 The great Tunnies and Bonitoes, which 

 look like magnified Mackerel, are also 

 among our rare visitors. 



The curious Angler-fish is a native, 

 taken only as a rule in the trawl, though 

 now and again on the hook. It has a 

 little fishing rod on the top of its head, 

 and with this it angles in the dark caverns 

 under the sea, attracting little fishes with 

 the silvery bait and then swallowing 

 them in its enormous mouth. It preys 

 not onlv on fi>^li, but also on diving birds, 



look as if they have lost the upper jaw. 

 As a matter of fact, they have, and the 

 explanation lies in the fact that when 

 they are very young, and known as 

 " Chad," they so worry the hooks with 

 which the fishermen are trying to catch 

 something bigger that the men continually 

 jerk the lines, tluis tearing away the upper 

 jaw of any fisii too small to get itself 

 properly hooked. The fish thrives in 

 spite of this deprivation, and in time quite 

 a number of large deformed Bream find 

 their way to tlie Barbican, which is the 

 Plymouth fish market. 



