FISHES. 627 
sought after, both for its beauty of colour and excellent table 
qualities. It is found in many ‘seas, but particularly in the 
Mediterranean, where it is taken all round the coast, usually in 
muddy bottoms ; it is fished for both by line and net. 
The family of the Gurnards (Zyi/id@) is remarkable for the 
Fig. 396.—The Red Gurnard (Trigla pinii). 
singular manner in which the head is mailed and cuirassed; the 
operculum and shoulder-bones are armed with spines, having 
trenchant blades, which give them a disagreeable, even a hideous, 
physiognomy, and has procured them various names, such as sea- 
frog, sea-scorpion, sea-devil, and sundry other equally significant 
names. Even with this forbidding appearance, however, the gurnards 
are among the most resplendent inhabitants of the sea. Nothing 
can exceed the beauty of their markings; but the brilliancy with 
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