THE RED MULLET FAMILY 



307 



the two forms are quite distinct. Largest size, 14 to 17 inches in 

 length. 



Habitat. — ^From the Canary Isles to Norway, including the 

 Mediterranean. In the British Isles it is rarely taken in numbers, 

 except on the south and west coasts of England. The plain 

 form seems to belong to more southern regions, and is said to be 

 the commoner in the Mediterranean. Mr. Dunn at Mevagissey 

 has never seen one, and all those that I have seen at Plymouth 

 have been of the striped kind. 



Food. — In the aquarium at Plymouth, where they live for a 

 long time and thrive, they are especially fond of shrimps, but will 

 eat also molluscs and worms. They use their stiff barbels to 

 rake in the gravel and sand at the bottom, and so discover 

 shrimps that bury themselves, or worms. Even dead food 

 they feel with the barbels before biting. 

 They have the habit of rising from the 

 bottom in a shoal to swim in mid -water 

 and then settling down again and immedi- 

 ately beginning to rake the ground : in 

 these actions they remind one of a flock of 

 birds. It is curious to see how the red 

 colour becomes darker when they rise from 

 the ground and pales away when they 

 return to it. The red colour is made more 

 intense by removing the scales when the 

 fish are first caught, and the fishermen 



usually perform this operation in order to improve the appear- 

 ance of the fish in the market. 



Breeding. — The spawn has not been studied in this country, 

 but Raffaele studied it at Naples, where it was shed by specimens 

 living in a tank of the aquarium. The eggs are of the buoyant 

 transparent kind. That of the striped mullet is "93 mm. or not quite 

 4-^ inch in breadth, globular in shape, and the yolk has a single 

 oil globule. But the yolk is not simple : there is a layer of large 

 separate masses on the outside, as in the case of the sole and 

 certain otTier fishes (Fig. 139.) The spawning took place from 

 May to August. 



The larva hatched out in three or four days. It has one 

 curious peculiarity, namely that the yolk-sac projects forwards 

 beyond the front of the head, and the oil globule is placed at the 



X 2 



Fig. 139.— Egg of the 

 Striped Red Mullet ; 

 after Raffaele. 



