Cycloid Acanthopteres.- 



-FISHES.- 



-CoKYpn.i:siDS. 



137 



well-known works we must refer the reader. Want 

 of space compels iis also to omit the details of the 

 Mackerel fishery, in which British capital and industry 

 are so largely employed. 



The CouUzou or Chicaro {Carmu Plmnieri) of the 

 West Indies becomes so venomous at times when its 

 bones are red, tliat it is used as a poison for rats. The 

 Shoemaker of Martinique is the Blcpharis sutor of 

 ichthyologists; and the Skip-jack of English mariners 

 is the Tcmnndon saltator. The Pilot-fish {Naucratcs 

 ductor) is in the habit of accompanying sliarks, not, we 

 apprehend, as a guide or monitor, according to vulgar 

 report, but for the purpose of picking up any morsels 

 of food that ma}' escape from the jaws of the monsters. 

 The same instinct leads it to follow ships for many 

 days, to pick up offal. 



Family XXX.— COnYPn/ENIDS 

 (Curi/2>hmnada'). 



Tliese are thoracic Scomberoids, furnished with a 

 long dorsal supported by flexible rays, the majority of 

 wliich are not jointed. Scales cover the tliree vertical 

 fins partially. Body long and compressed, with the 

 Iiead trenchant above. In some members palatine 

 teeth are present ; others have these bones smooth. 

 Some genera are apodal. The scales are small. 



The family consists of Curyphtena ; Lampnqi/s; Pternclis ; 

 Astrofhnnus (or Diana, Risso); Ausonia (Risso) ; Lampris ' 

 (ill- Apolecttis); Stromateus; Slromateoldes (Bleelier); Pejjrilus; 

 and Centrolophus. 



Two species of Centroloplms have been detected in 

 the Britisli seas — one the rare Black-fish [C. iiom- 

 }nlux), and the other the C. hritannicus, of which a 

 solitary examjile was taken in the sea off Polperro, 

 and described by Dr. Giinther. The Corypluenje, or 

 Dolphins o'" modern seamen, are exceeded in beauty 

 by none of the finnj' tribes ; and the elegance and 

 rapidity of ihcir movements, the purity and brilliancy 

 of their varying colours — in which rich blues and 

 emerald greens predominate — together with a kind of 

 sociability which causes these fish to accompany a 

 ship for many days together, render them pleasing 

 objects of study to the voyager in the tropical seas. 

 Being oceanic fishes tliat rarely approach the coast, 

 (hey are not objects of any special fisliing, yet they 

 furnish an agiceable change of diet to seamen tired of 

 salt meat, their flesh being firm though somewhat dry. 

 No ancient author has given a description of these 

 fishes b}' which they can be recognized. The Dolphins 

 of Orion are cetaceans. The Pomfrets [Stromalev^) 

 are much esteemed articles of diet iu the East Indies, 

 as is also the Ilarvest-fish {Pqn-itus) of the Caribbees. 



The King-fish [Lampru), a third British member of 

 the family, attains the weiglit of two hundred pounds 

 or more, and is remarkable for the beauty of its skin 

 and the excellence of its flesh, which is like that of 

 the salmon in flavour. It is only too rare. 



Family XXXI.— ZEIDS (ZeWo;).- Plate 11, fig. 54. 



Tlicse are thoracic fishes, . with very protractile 

 mouths, armed with feeble and not numerous teeth. 

 Vol.. II. 



Their skin is either naked, or clothed with small scah-S 

 imbedded in the skin, and sometimes carrying small, 

 bony, spiniferous shields along the bases of the fins or 

 elsewhere. They are closely allied to the Scomberoids 

 by their cranial crests, their complicated pancreatic 

 caeca, and by other parts of their internal structure. 

 Their bodies are higli and compressed, and are sur- 

 mounted by one or two dorsals. 



Tlie genera are — Zeva ; Capros ;* Caprnphonus (JIulIer and 

 Troscliel) ; Lampris ; Eipuda ; and Meite. 



The Dory or John Dory {Zeus falxr) is a British 

 fish, which has maintained a considerable repute ever 

 since Quin pronounced it to be a good fi.'^h. The spots 

 on the sides are vulgarly supposed to be the marks 

 made by St. Peter's thumb when he took the tribute 

 penny from its mouth ; and according to Belon it is 

 called CJiristopsaron in modern Greek, and is fre- 

 quently suspended in the Greek churches by fishermen. 

 The words Zeus and fahcr are u.sed synonymously b}- 

 Pliny, and occur in other Latin authors ; but they did 

 not, as far as can be judged by the little that is said of 

 them, mean the Dory. The Boar-fish {Capros aper) 

 is another British fish, much less common than the 

 Dory, and of very inl'erior value for the table. 



Family XXXIL— XIPIIIADS or SWORD-FISHES 

 {Xiphioedoi)—ina.te 10, fig. 53— 



Are elongated fishes, with a long tapering acute snout, 

 composed for most of its length of the vomer and pre- 

 maxillaries, but supported at its base by the nasals, 

 frontals, and maxillaries; the prefrontals lie between 

 the snout and the orbits. The dorsal fins are single 

 or double, long and high, but wearing down in the 

 middle by age, so that a single one becomes two. 

 Some genera have ventrals, others are apodal ; none 

 have detached fiulets. The intestines resemble those 

 of the Tunny. 



Tliis group forms a division of tlie Scomberoids in tlie 

 Ilistoire tks jmUsons, and contains tlie following genera — 

 Xip/tlas; Tetrapturus; Mukaira; JJisliophoi-us; and Neinic/tt/ii/s 

 (Richardson). 



The Sword-fish {Xiphias gladius) has been observed 

 at various times in the Brili.sh seas, but is much more 

 conmion in the Atlantic and Jiediterranean, and was 

 well known to the ancients. Brydone says that "the 

 taking of the Pesce spada, or Sword-fish, is a much more 

 noble diversion than the killing of the Tunny. No art 

 is used to ensnare him, but with a small harpoon fixed 

 to a long line the fisher attacks hira in the open seas, 

 and will often strike him from a very considerable dis- 

 tance. It is exactly the whale-fishing in miniature. 

 The Sicilian fishermen have a Greek sentence w^hich 

 they use as a charm to bring him near their boats, and 

 they pretend that it is of wonderful efficacy ; but if the 

 fish should unfortunately overhear them sjieak a word 

 of Italian, he plunges under water, and will ajipear no 

 more." Kirchcr took down the words of the charm 



» Micro-^us of Blyth (1859), placed by its dcscriber nmonpr 

 the Xeidce, seems to resemble Caprns in ninny of its external 

 cbanictcrs. lis month is not protractile, but the mandible 

 projects when depressed. 



d 



