36 SALT-WATER FISHES 



and their original home. In the case of British seas, it may be 

 pointed out that certain families of fishes show very marked 

 superiority in the number of their representatives. Such, for 

 instance, are the cod family {Gadida) with nearly a score, 

 the sharks and rays {Selachit) with only one or two less, the 

 flat-fish {Heterosomata)^ the blennies {^Blenniida^ and gobies 

 {Gobiidce), the breams {Sparida), the bull-heads and gurnards 

 (^Cottida), the pipe-fishes {Sygnathidi£), the herrings {Clupeidie)^ 

 the mackerels (^Scombrida), the horse-mackerels (Carangid^), 

 and the perches (Percida) and perch-like fishes. On the other 

 hand, quite a number of our sea fish stand in a family by 

 themselves, isolated representatives, with no near relative in 

 this part of the world at all. Of these mention may be made 

 of the dory (our only representative of the Cyttid^e), angler-fish 

 (belonging to the Pediculati), black-fish {^Stromateida'), sword- 

 fish {Xiphiidte), maigre (^Scianidie'), red band-fish {Cepolida), 

 beUows-fish {Centriscida), and file-fish {Sclerodermi). River 

 anglers are familiar with a somewhat analogous contrast in 

 the isolation of the pike, or jack (Esox), as the sole repre- 

 sentative of the Esocida, among the many members of the 

 two great families of game-fish {Salmonida') and coarse-fish 

 {Cyprinida^. 



A special interest attaches to those species which are not 

 found outside of a prescribed region, and are known as 

 " peculiar " or " endemic." It is very difficult to say whether 

 our seas have any such species. A small flat-fish (^Solea 

 greenii), first brought to light in the 1891 Irish surveys, and 

 one of the gurnards (Triglops murrayi), supposed to occur 

 only on the coast of Scotland and nowhere beside, have been 

 suggested as "peculiar " British sea fish; but it is more than 

 likely that further dredging expeditions will yield examples of 

 both from other parts of the North Sea or Atlantic. When 

 we come to consider that even many of the lake chars, which 

 were for a long time fondly claimed as peculiar to Wales or 

 the Lake District, have since been identified in Continental 



