TIIK THICK-LIPPED GREY MULLET. lUl 



species on the eastern shores of Scotland, where we believe his grey mullet is 

 not known at all, or is at least far from common. At the mouths of rivers the 

 former is taken iji considerable numbers in autumn.' Vol. i. p. 390. Every 

 mullet that I have had the means of examining at Belfast, since first giving at- 

 tention to them in March, 1835, was of this species, as were likewise the only 

 two individuals that I have seen from the southern coast of Ireland. These are 

 in the collection of Dr. R. Ball, of Dublin, and were taken at Youghal in the 

 Co\nity of Cork. 



" As information on the history of this species, at least as distinguished from 

 others, is very scanty in all ihc British and continental works I have had the op- 

 portunity of consulting, I have thought proper to enter into the following detail. 



" Notwithstanding the great increase of shipping of late years at Belfast, the 

 mullet is as plentiful in the bay as it was ever known to be by the few persons 

 engaged in its capture. By much the greater number are taken here in trammel 

 or set-nets, but at low water the sweep or diaught-net is used in the gullets,* 

 and also, in addition to the former kind, is employed in fishing for ihem within 

 the flow of the tide in the river Lagan. They are generally sought for from 

 about the middle of March until the beginning of October, and are occasionally 

 taken before and after these periods. Tliey probably never migrate far, as in 

 two different years, in the month of January, dead individuals were washed 

 ashore in the bay. The fishers are, for their own sake, entirely guided by the 

 weather, which must be moderate, it being by night that the mullet is taken in 

 the greatest numbers, as, by reason of the darkness, they cannot, by leaping over 

 it, so well avoid the fatal net, though even then they occasionally so escape. In 

 clear moonlight, and by day, fish of every size often clear the net, sometimes 

 springing five and six feet over it, and when one has set the example, nearly all 

 are sure to follow it ; having surmounted the meshy barrier, they sometimes 

 take two or three additional leaps, and skim the surface beautifully before again 

 subsiding beneath it. In the stillness of the night it is said that by leaping and 

 plunging about they make the water seem quite alive. In the bright sunny 

 days of summer, which they evidently much enjoy, a whole shoal of mullet 

 occasionally exhibit their dorsal fins above the surface of the water, and when 

 there are neither nets nor other objects to obstruct them, may, in playfulness, 

 be seen springing a few feet into the air. This generally occurs at high water, 

 when they appear to be more intent on roving about than feeding, and pene- 

 trate as far up the river as the tidal wave will bear them ; at such times they 

 have frequently been captured in May's dock, within the town of Belfast. 



" Of their time of spawnmg 1 cannot speak with certainty, nor have any indi- 

 viduals that came under my observation from March to September been in the 

 least degree spent by it, all being firm and well-formed lish. When, on the 3rd 

 of January, 1835, in search of marine productions outside the entrance to 

 Strangford Lough, County Down, and accompanied by Mr. Hyndman, a spe- 

 cimen of this mullet, under 2 inches in length, was captured, and in the middle 

 of September I have seen others of 9 inches in length. 



" They are chiefly found in the most oozy parts of the bay, and where the grass- 

 wrack {Zostera marina) is abundant. In search of food they make consider- 

 able excavations, which the fishers distinguish by the name of mullet-holes. f 



" The species of fish frequenting the coasts of Down'and Antrim may be stated, 

 in general terms, commonly to attain the extreme size with their kindred in the 

 Rlediterranean, and the M. Chelo proves not an exception, as specimens taken 



* These are narrow and often deep channels of water intersecting the banks 

 over which the tide flows. In using the draught-net here, the smaller fish in 

 leaping over it sometimes alight on the banks — at this time dry — to their de- 

 struction. 



t Pennant observes, that the grey mullet " keep rooting like liogs in the sand 

 or mud, leaving their traces in form of large round holes." — Brit. ZooL, vol. iii, 

 p. 437, ed. 1812. 



