WRASSES. 163 



the palate without teeth. The fishes have thick, fleshy lips 

 (whence the German popular name " Lippfisch "\ and a slimy- 

 skin with cycloid scales. 



The Labridne are of wide distribution, occurring among the 

 rocks and sea-weed of the coasts of all tropical and temperate seas. 

 They are good eating, although the flesh is too soft and glutinous 

 to suit some palates ; they have no great commercial value and 

 only find their way to certain markets. The colours are brilliant 

 and vary considerably in different individuals of the same species, 

 and in many cases there is a regular difference in colouring 

 between the male and female during the breeding season. In the 

 Cuckoo or Striped Wrasse, for instance {Labrus mixtus, 668), 

 the male usually has blue streaks or a blackish band along the 

 bodv, while the female has two or three large black blotches across 

 the back of the tail. The male loses his bright colours in the 

 winter, and three dark spots similar to those of the female, but 

 fainter, then become apparent. The female was formerly supposed 

 to be a distinct species from the Cuckoo Wrasse and was called 

 the Three-spotted Wrasse. The Wrasses proper (genera Labrus, 

 Crenilabrus, Ctenolabrus, Acantholabrus) are confined to the seas 

 of Europe and northern Africa. They build nests of masses of 

 soft sea-weed, tightly crammed into rock crevices, with the large 

 amber-coloured eggs evenly dispersed through the mass. Both 

 sexes take part in the building of the nest. 



Occurring commonly in rocky, seaweed-clad parts of our coasts, 

 particularly the southern coasts, are, besides the Cuckoo Wrasse 

 above mentioned, the Ballan Wrasse, Labrus maculatus, 670, 

 fig. 75, a larger fish than the former, attaining a weight of 7 or 

 8 lbs. ; the Gold-sinny or Corkwing, Crenilabrus melops, 676, 

 rarely exceeding nine inches in length, a brownish or reddish fish 

 with dark bands down the sides, and rings, sometimes with dark 

 centres, on the fins, the female distinguishable by a black spot 

 ■ immediately in front of the tail fin ; Ctenolabrus rupestris, Acantho- 

 labrus palloni and Centrolabrus exoletus, the last, known as the 

 Rock-cook, being a more northern form than most of the Wrasses, 

 occurring even on the coast of Greenland. Julis vulgaris (685) 

 and Julis giofredi (686) are common Mediterranean fishes 



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