Fishes. 2461 



little known : hence they had been induced to draw up a minute description, which 

 they hoped would be of service should this specimen even prove to belong to any of 

 the species already noticed. They were, however, disposed to look upon the Culler- 

 coats fish as a distinct species. Of this rare genus five species are known ; two of 

 these are Norwegian, two belong to the Indian seas, and probably a fifth, which was 

 captured off the Cornish coast. The Norwegian species appears generally to precede 

 or accompany the shoals of herrings, and hence is called " king of the herrings." Of 

 these the G. Ascanii of Shaw seems to be the most nearly allied to our fish, but is 

 distinguished from it by the following marks. The former is 10 feet long and 

 6 inches in depth ; its length is, therefore, to its depth as 20 to 1 ; the latter, accord- 

 ing to the measurements above given, is 1 3 times longer than it is deep ; the former 

 has, according to some 120, and according to others 160, rays in the dorsal fin ; the 

 latter has 267 rays. There are other peculiarities which show a great difference be- 

 tween G. Ascanii and the Cullercoats fish. The other Norwegian species, named G. 

 Grillii, is noticed in Griffith's Cuvier as being 18 feet long, and having upwards of 

 400 rays in the dorsal fin : this also is concluded to be distinct from our specimen. 

 There is another species, figured in Cuvier and Valenciennes, vol. x. pi. 298, which 

 comes near to our fish, but, from its markings and in other respects, it is a species 

 different from ours. Of the Indian species, one, the Russelian, described as a proba- 

 ble variety in vol. iv. part 2 of Shaw's Zoology, is only 2 feet 8 inches long, and has 

 320 rays in the dorsal fin ; and it differs in several other respects. The other, named 

 by Bloch G. Hawkenii, is described by him as 2 feet long and 6 inches deep ; its 

 proportions are therefore very different from any other member of the genus. The 

 writers next refer to the specimen caught off the south coast of Cornwall, in February, 

 1791, and, after describing its peculiarities, they incline to the opinion that the 

 Cornish species is distinct from the Northumberland specimen ; but even if they 

 adopted the contrary opinion, it would be necessary to give a new name to our speci- 

 men, as it is evidently distinct from all the species hitherto named. Notwithstanding 

 the rarity of this genus, they go on to remark, there is some reason to believe that 

 species belonging to it have been taken before this on our eastern coast. An elderly 

 gentleman, residing in Newcastle, stated that about fifty years ago a silvery fish, re- 

 sembling in its general characters the subject of this paper, was taken off Tynemouth ; 

 and it appears by the 'Annual Eegister' that a fish was captured at Whitby, January 

 23, 1759, closely related to it, if not identical with our species. The writers had, 

 moreover, learnt from a Norwegian captain, who frequents this port, and has traded 

 to Archangel, that in the White Sea, fish closely resembling the Cullercoats specimen 

 have been, though rarely, seen, — the silvery colour, long attenuated form, and the 

 rapid undulating motion, being their chief characteristics. They are there called 

 stone serpents. It has occurred at once to many here, on first viewing the Gymne- 

 trus, that it may have been taken for the famous sea-serpent ; and the Archangel 

 name of the fish seen there strengthens the idea that it possibly may, at times, have 

 deceived the eye of the credulous mariner, from its rapid undulating motion and linear 

 form, and from its occasionally swimming at the surface. On consulting the accounts, 

 however, which have appeared of the sea-serpent, it was found that they related to 

 creatures widely different from the riband fish ; such as whales, seals, sharks, &c, 

 seen under disadvantageous circumstances, or imperfectly observed. Still, though the 

 Gymnetrus may not have originated the idea of the existence of a marine serpent, the 

 occasional appearance of this fish may very materially have tended to keep up, among 

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