The Loach. 31 



IX. 



THE LOACH. 

 ( Called LOCHA by the Romans.') 



PLATE xn. 5. 



j]HE Loach is bearded like the barbel, and frec- 

 kled with black and white spots. He is a 

 small fish, but good for the table, and is nou- 

 rishing food for sick persons. He takes a 

 small worm greedily at ground. His haunts are among 

 gravel in the shallows in brooks and rivers. 



SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION. 



ORDER IY. Abdominales. Ventral fins on the abdomen, 

 behind the pectoral. 



GENUS COBITIS. Colitis Barbatula. Loach. 



" Abdominal Malacopterygii. Cyprinidce. 



" Colitis Barbatula. LINN^US, Block, pt. i. pi. 33. fig. 3. 

 Loche. PENN. Brit. Fish, vol. iii. p. 379. 

 Bearded Loche. DON. Brit. Fish, pi. 22. 

 FLVM.Brit.An.p. 189.sp.69. 



" Head small ; body elongated, covered with minute scales, invested 

 with a thick mucous secretion; the ventral fins placed far back in a 

 line under a small dorsal fin ; mouth small without teeth ; upper 

 lip furnished with six barbules, four of them in front, and one at each 

 corner ; gill openings small ; branchiostegous rays three. 

 " The fin rays in number are 



" D. 9, P. 12, V. 7, A. 6, C. 19, vertebra 36." 



YARRELL, Brit. Fish, vol. i. p. 376. 9. 



