21'2 THE PICKED DOG-FISH. 



in length the body from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail. Th^ lower lobe is 

 quite short, and in no way conspicuous. 



This fish is appropriately called the Thresher on account of its habit of using its long 

 and flexible tail after the fashion of a quarter-staff, and dealing the most tremendous 

 blows on or near any object that may excite its ire. Sometimes it seems to employ its 

 tail in playing off a practical joke or frightening away dolphins or other creatures that 

 are disporting themselves in apparent security. The following short account by Captain 

 Crow will give a good idea of the powers of this tremendous weapon when wielded by 

 the iron muscles of the Thresher : 



" One morning during a calm, when near the Hebrides, all hands were called up at 

 three A.M. to witness a battle between several of the fish called Threshers or Fox Sharks 

 and some swordtish on the one side and an enormous whale on the other. It was in the 

 middle of summer, and the weather being clear and the fish close to the vessel, we 

 had a fine opportunity of witnessing the contest. As soon as the whale's back appeared 

 above the water, the Threshers, springing several yards into the air, descended with great 

 violence upon the object of their rancour, and inflicted upon him the most severe slaps 

 with their long tails, the sounds of which resembled the reports of muskets fired at a 

 distance. 



The swordfish in their turn attacked the distressed whale, striking from below, and 

 thus beset on all sides, and wounded, where the poor creature appeared, the water around 

 him was dyed with blood. In this manner they continued tormenting and wounding 

 him for many hours, until we lost sight of him, and I have no doubt that they in the end 

 completed his destruction." This strange alliance of two different fish against a marine 

 mammal is a truly curious circumstance, and may have a deeper meaning than appears 

 on the surface. 



The food of the Thresher consists mostly of fish, and in the stomach of one of these 

 creatures taken off the coast of Cornwall were found a quantity of young herrings. The 

 colour of the Thresher is dark slaty blue above, and the same colour, but mottled with 

 white, below. 



AMONG the British Sharks, the PICKED DOG-FISH deserves notice, on account of the 

 curious weapons from which it derives its name. 



In front of each dorsal fin is placed a strong and sharply pointed spine, or pike, which 

 has caused the fish to receive its popular name in most parts of the coast. The word is 

 a dissyllable, and pronounced Pick-ed. On some of our shores it is called the BONE DOG, 

 and in the Orkneys it is known by the name of the HOE. 



These spines form aggressive weapons of a rather formidable character, the fish having 

 the capability of directing a blow with wonderful accuracy. Mr. Couch says, that he has 

 known the Picked Dog-fish able to pierce a finger if laid on its head, and never to miss 

 its aim. When about to strike, it bends its body like a bow, and suddenly lashes out 

 in the intended direction. It is a very common species, especially during the herring 

 season, as it follows the shoals of those fish for the purpose of feeding on them. Even 

 the tiny, quarter-grown young, not half the size of their intended prey, instinctively 

 follow the herrings, though it is manifestly impossible that they should be able to 

 eat them. 



The Picked Dog-fish is destructive to the fishing trade, not only on account of its 

 large appetite and the number of fish it consumes, but because it cuts the hooks away 

 from the lines with its sharp teeth. As, moreover, it is extremely plentiful, some twenty 

 thousand having been captured at one haul of a seine net, the destruction which it causes can 

 be readily imagined. Sometimes this fish assembles in large shoals, and then the fishermen 

 avenge themselves of their injuries, by shooting their nets around them, and capturing 

 them by boats' loads at a time. Their flesh is tolerably good, a useful oil is obtained 

 plentifully from the liver, while the refuse portions are most valuable as manure, and are 

 strewed in unfragrant richness over the fields, warning the nostrils at a considerable 

 distance that the next year's crop is likely to be successful, and that a nearer approach is 

 undesirable except to the farmer and the entomologist. 



