126 SALT-WATER FISHES 



It is plentiful enough in the fish-markets of Mediterranean 

 coast towns, but is rarely, if ever, seen in our shops. When 

 it is remembered that Cunningham has, with all his oppor- 

 tunities, never seen the plain form at Plymouth, and that 

 neither Couch nor Day described the fish from actual obser- 

 vation of British-caught examples, it looks as if its right to 

 be included in the British fauna is somewhat doubtful. 



The red mullet does not grow to a great weight. A 

 couple of pounds, with a corresponding length of about 1 5 in., 

 would be considered a good weight in Cornwall, where 

 some of our finest are caught for the London market. In 

 all countries it commands a high price for the table, though 

 comparatively inexpensive in Italy and the southern ports of 

 France. At Marseilles, for instance, it is a common ingredient 

 in the famous bouillabaisse soup. The name given to this 

 little fish by the Moorish fishermen of Tangier — " Sultan-el- 

 hout," or the " Emperor of Fishes "—is probably a tribute to 

 its brilliant colouring, particularly as red is the royal colour 

 in Morocco, for that would appeal to the Oriental eye sooner 

 than its delicate flavour to the Oriental palate. 



The red mullet is caught chiefly in the trammel, which is 

 set on soft ground near the inshore rocks, and it is taken at 

 night, the nets being taken up in early morning. To some 

 extent also it is taken in the trawl, and the writer has seen 

 many scores landed from the trawlers at Brixham. There is 

 no regular hook fishery for red mullet, though rare instances 

 of its capture by amateurs have been recorded at Brighton, 

 Shoreham, Bournemouth, and elsewhere. Still, it does not 

 commonly take the hook ; and the writer, after fishing for 

 years close to its haunts on the coasts of both England and 

 Italy and catching none, took two within ten minutes in 

 Tangier Bay in April, 1899, and never one since. Soft food 

 lying on the sand suits the mullet's teeth and manner of 

 feeding, and it is probable that if any angler were to lay 

 himself out to capture the fish in suitable localities during 



