16 SEA-FISH. 
trifling services. Many a time, after giving one 
or two sharks to Cornishmen, I have found an 
unexpected crab or lobster on my breakfast plate. 
I am not sure whether one would find such delicacy 
nearer town; but I hope so. 
Few would think of fishing specially for sharks, 
though I do recollect one sportsman with whom they 
were a perfect hobby—he would kill a score or so 
a week—but they often fasten themselves unasked 
on the pollack-lines, and then the angler soon learns 
a curious habit of all the tribe,—that of swimming to 
the surface and endeavouring to shake the hook 
out, a habit also noticed in the garfish. It is 
important to bear this in mind, especially when 
playing a shark on the rod, as the slackening of the 
line would lead any one ignorant of their ways to 
suppose that the fish had broken away, whereas this 
is just the moment to be in readiness for a sudden 
rush. 
In the sea-bream we have a very different type 
of fish from the bream and bream-flat of our 
inland waters, a perch-like form with sharp 
dorsal fin, a lover of clear deep water, 
found, not in the mud, but among the rocks. 
Sea-bream are gregarious and frequent certain 
grounds, the whereabouts of which can only, save 
by chance, be learnt with local help. They feed 
freely as a rule, and within a few feet of the rocks 
in which they live. These often lie in deep water 
several miles from the coast, necessitating the use 
of the hand-line. It is necessary to strike at once, 
and care should be taken, as with the bass, not to 
handle the sharp spines on the back. The red and 
black sea-breams, the former known when full 
Bream 
