FOOD PEODUCTS OF THE SEA — FISHES. 289 



of seven inches and a half. Anchovies are also caught 

 in the Zuyder Zee, Holland. 



The catch is, however, extremely uncertain, for 

 while in abundant years it sometimes amounts to over 

 70,000 baskets, each of about 3,500 fish, in poor years 

 the whole may be put down at 1,000 baskets. 



If the fisheries on the Spanish coasts cannot compete 

 in importance vnth those of some of the other European 

 States in the supply to foreign markets, they at least 

 furnish sufficient for the interior consumption. There 

 are about 37,000 fishermen employed in boats, and the 

 fish taken averages about 78,700 tons per annum, of 

 which half is consumed fresh and haK is salted, some 

 few hundredweight being marinaded. At Corunna there 

 are 220 establishments for salting and pressing sardines 

 and pilchards, a trade of much importance. In 1871 

 salt pilchards sold there at 1 1^ to 2^ dollars per thousand. 

 They are caught very largely on the coast in favourable 

 years, and promptly cured or salted for removal. The value 

 of the fish caught in 1871 was estimated at £350,000. 



Many of the skates and rays are caught by our fisher- 

 men, but for some reason the British public do not 

 readily eat this fish, and they are therefore exported 

 in large quantities to France and Holland. The French 

 chefs have many ways of cooking rays, of which " Eaie 

 au beurre noir " is about the best. ■ The commonest of 

 these fish in the British markets is the blue skate {Raia 

 iatis or vulgaris), and the thornback or rough ray {R. 

 elavata). Another, the Homelyn ray {B. maculata), is also 

 generally sold as skate in the London market. The sharp- 

 nosed ray {R. oxyrhynchus) is the favourite species with 

 the French. In Iceland they eat the ray when it is half 

 rotten. At Nantes, under the name of " goules rondes," 

 the heads of rays are sold separately in bundles of twenty, 

 and they are regarded as dainty morsels, somewhat as 

 their backs were esteemed by the ancients according to 

 Antiphanes. 



Mackerel — The mackerel {Scomber scombrus) fishery is 

 prosecuted on many parts of the British coasts, but it is 



