THE MULLETS. 81 



in the middle of the back. Atypus feeds on vegetable as well as animal substances. The genus 

 Toxotes has the dorsal fin, which contains only five spines, placed on the posterior half of the 

 back. 



Many of these iishes possess the remarkable habit of shooting at insects observed upon plants 

 which overhang the water or fly above it, by forcibly ejecting water from the mouth, a circumstance 

 remarked upon by Swainson as being altogether unique as a hunting habit and mode of capturing 

 prey. 



FAMILY IV. NANDID.E. 



The Nandida; are a small family, including about six genera of tropical fishes, which are all 

 carnivorous. The body is compressed and oblong, and, unlike all the foregoing three families, has 

 the lateral line interrupted. The ventral fins are placed under the thorax. The pseudo-branchiae, which 

 occur in the marine genera from the Red Sea and the Pacific, are absent in the fresh-water genera 

 of the East Indies, and hidden in the genus Acharnes, which is met with in the fresh waters of 

 British Guiana. 



FAMILY V. MULLIDJE. 



The Mullidse are distinguished by having a pair of long movable barbels on the throat 

 attached to the hyoid apparatus. There are four branchiostegal rays and two dorsal fins, which 

 are distant from each other. The profile of the head is always a convex curve, and the elongated 

 body is covered with large scales. There are five genera of these Mullets, which chiefly inhabit 

 tropical seas, though the genus Mullus, which includes only two species, is limited to the Mediter- 

 ranean and the temperate coasts of Europe. The Australian genus, Upeneichthys, makes its way 

 up rivers. Both the Red Mullets occur on British coasts. The Mullus barbatus is rare, and 

 met with only occasionally on the coasts of Berwickshire and Cornwall, though it is abundant 

 in the Mediterranean. Its colour is duller than that of the Red Mullet, and varies between red 

 and olive-yellow. 



THE RED MULLET * 



This fish is also called the Striped Surmullet, from the circumstance that its bright red 

 colour is relieved by three longitudinal stripes of yellow. The flesh of this fish is white, firm, 

 and remarkably free from fat, and has always been esteemed one of the epicure's greatest 

 luxuries. Its flavour improves with the size, and small fish deprived of the liver are more or 

 loss insipid. The method of cooking by rolling them in paper to prevent injury to the skin 

 has been observed for at least two thousand years. Among the Romans Mullet of moderate 

 size were worth their weight in silver. In Great Britain they do not usually exceed three pounds 

 and a half in weight. Couch mentions one which was sixteen inches long. After death the 

 colours fade. The species is migratory, but most abundant in the English Channel. They 

 are often caught in Mackerel-nets, near to the surface, but more frequently in the trawl-net. 

 Occasionally they are so abundant that five thousand have been taken in a single night. Their 

 rarity at times is a consequence of their migratory habits, and the circumstance that their home 

 is then unknown to the fishermen. The Red Mullet feeds on small Crustacea and thin-shelled 

 mollusca. 



FAMILY VI. SPARID^E. 



The Sparidse are a large natural family, including upwards of twenty genera, and a multitude 

 of species, which are commonly known as the Sea Breams. These fishes have the body compressed 

 and oblong. The scales are minutely serrated ; the branchiostegal rays vary from five to seven ; 

 the bones of the head have a rudimentary system of mucus canals; the dentary organs are 

 either of a grinding character at the sides of the jaws, or are cutting teeth placed in front of 

 them. The air-bladder is often divided posteriorly. Dr. Giinther divides these fishes, some of 

 which are herbivorous and others carnivorous, into five groups, which are named from typical genera. 



THE BLACK SEA BREAM, OR OLD WIFE.t 



This is a fish of solitary habits, which frequents the west and south coasts of England and 

 Ireland in summer and autumn, but ranges southward to the Mediterranean Sea and Canary 



* Mullus surmuletus. t Cantitarus lineatus. 



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