SOME RARE OR UNCOMMON FISHES 285 



colour they were dark grey, and showed violet and Iridescent 

 blue reflections. 



Ray's Bream {Brama rati) is a flattened bream-like fish, its 

 head short, the front rays of the dorsal fin conspicuously long. 

 Its colours are variable, but blue, with bronze and other 

 metallic reflections, and black edges to the dorsal, anal, and 

 caudal fins are characteristic. The eye Is large ; the teeth 

 are long and sharp. Though described as a deep-water fish. 

 It may occasionally stray into the shallows, for examples are 

 from time to time cast ashore. The Cornish specimen 

 (Penzance) alluded to by Day as floundering in the shallows 

 and captured in 1875 was the last seen In the duchy until 

 the spring of 1891, when another was gafi^ed near Falmouth 

 and sent by Dunn to the Plymouth Laboratory. 



The Opah {hampris luna) belongs to the same family, 

 but is a much more striking fish, the most brilliantly coloured, 

 in fact, in our seas, if not in all the world. Now and again 

 one Is on show in the window of some London fishmonger's 

 shop, and crowds assemble to admire the silver-spotted fish 

 with the vermilion fins and golden scales, while the sharp 

 curve taken by its lateral line is also remarkable. Its bright 

 colouring has gained for it a number of appropriate names, 

 such as " king-fish " and " sun-fish," the last entailing the 

 risk of confusion with either the true sun-fish or basklng- 

 shark so-called. It Is only a straggler to our seas, and it 

 is curious. Indeed, to find so brilliant a fish evidently of 

 northern origin, whereas we should be tempted to associate 

 it with the hotter seas of the south. It Is on rare occasions 

 taken in the Mediterranean, but evidently does not belong 

 to that sea. The opah grows to a great weight, and ex- 

 amples of between 100 and 150 lb. have been captured on 

 our coasts at different points between Cornwall and the 

 Orkneys. It feeds on cuttle-fish and similar animals, and 

 its flesh is said to be excellent eating. Though a deep-water 



