CHAPTER XXI 
THE SHEEPSHEAD 
“T shall stay him no longer than to wish, . . . that if he be 
an honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes 
a-fishing.” — Izaak WaLTON. 
Tue ancients long ago discovered the value 
of the sheepshead or its representatives, and the 
Chrysophrys of the Greeks, and Aurata of the 
Latins, was the gilthead of the English, accord- 
ing to Sir John Richardson. Sergius Orata, a 
famous Roman well liver, considered the gilt- 
head the finest of all fishes, and it is said that his 
surname was derived from this fish. He intro- 
duced them into ponds, and cultivated oysters and 
other shell-fish that the giltheads might have the 
most delicate food. According to Pliny, he sug- 
gested and designed the oyster nurseries at Baiz 
upon which were fed the sheepshead which were 
sold to the Roman epicures. Few fishes to-day 
excel the sheepshead when properly served, and 
as a game fish it ranks high when taken with a 
light rod and the lightest line. 
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