OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 13 



careful hunting in the manner above described. On the 

 British coasts the Red Mullet rarely exceeds a weight of 

 from one to two pounds, with a length of twelve or fourteen 

 inches. Occasionally, however, they have been taken over 

 three pounds in weight, and in the Mediterranean they grow 

 to yet larger dimensions. 



FAMILY III.— The Sea-Breams {Sparidce). 



Body oblong, usually much compressed ; scales entire or 

 very minutely serrated ; branchiostegal rays, five to seven in 

 number ; eyes lateral ; teeth usually so differentiated as to 

 constitute a distinct cutting and grinding series ; the dorsal fin 

 single, formed by a spinous and soft portion of nearly equal 

 development ; the air-bladder present, often bifid pos- 

 teriorly. 



The Sea-Breams, recognised externally by their laterally 

 flattened or compressed form, and by their possession of 

 functionally modified cutting and grinding teeth, are 

 herbivorous and carnivorous fishes, inhabiting the shores of 

 all tropical and temperate seas, as many as nine species 

 occurring in British waters. The majority possess a strong 

 family likeness to one another, and exhibit but little vari- 

 ation in either shape or colour, the prevailing tints being a 

 golden-red, blue or silvery hue, more intense on the back, 

 and thence shading off to the ventral region, a darker spot 

 being sometimes developed immediately behind the head, 

 or upon what may be called the shoulder. In the Spanish 

 Bream (Pagellus bogarevio), No. 14, and the Erythrimis, or 

 king of the Breams {Pagellus erythrimis), No. 17, as excep- 

 tions, small thickly distributed spots of a brilliant azure-blue 

 are conspicuously visible throughout the entire dorsal 

 region. Specimens of the last-named very beautiful fish, 



