748 



PISCES-PERCH...MACKEREL. 



THE PERCHi 



:.^ 



Is a gregarious fish, and loves deep holes, and gentle streams. It is a most 

 voracious fish and eager biter ; if the angler meets with a shoal of them, he 

 is sure of taking every one. It is a common notion, that the pike will not 

 attack this fish, being fearful of the spiny fins which the perch erects on the 

 approach of the former. This may be true in respect to large fish; but it is 

 well known the small ones are the most tempting bait that can be laid for 

 the pike. 



The perch is a fish very tenacious of life ; we have known them carried 

 near sixty miles in dry straw, and yet survive the journey. These fish 

 seldom grow to a large size. 



THE MACKEREL. 2 



The mackerel emits a phosphoric light when fresh from the sea. "When 

 taken out of the water, it soon dies, and even in the water, if it advance 

 with too much impetuosity against the net. It is caught with that instru- 

 ment, or with a hook baited with bits of red cloth, or small herrings, and 

 pieces of other kinds of fish or flesh. In some places it is taken by lines 

 from boats, as during a fresh gale of wind, it readily seizes a bait ; it is 

 necessary that the boat should be in motion, in order to drag the bait along 

 near the surface of the water. There is a great fishery for mackerel on 

 some parts of the west coast of England. This is of such an extent, as to 



* Perca Jluviatilis, Lin. The genus Perca has a snout without scales, not advancing 

 beyond the lips ; second dorsal fin not senisibly longer than the first ; ventral fins on the 

 thorax ; prte-operculi dentated ; operculi spinous. 



^ Scomber scomber, lai^. The genus S.-omfter, or mackerel, has a projecting ridge on 

 each side of the tail, and a row of pointed teeth in each jaw; annl and dorsal fins with 

 the posterior part divided into spurious fins ; the second dorsal, distant from the first. 



