SHEATFISII. 
701 
size, have ever been seen together at Soro. Of them 
we are told that they pursue and drive their flying 
victims in common, until, sure of their prey, with one 
consent and with open mouth they dart about with in- 
credible speed, seizing and devouring their victims. In 
order to attain this great velocity the Sheatfish chiefly 
employs its tail, by whose serpentine movements and 
quick blows it sculls itself along like the Eel. Fortu- 
nately for the fishes it pursues, the Sheatfish by its 
violent movements and rapid pace sets the water in 
commotion and thus betrays itself.” When the Sheatfish, 
on the other hand, lies lazily at rest and allows small 
fishes, frogs, crustaceans, insects, and even worms to 
glide down its maw, we may well conjecture that here 
too (cf. above, pp. 263 — 264) the inner transverse cur- 
tains of the mouth act as valves, so to speak, in pump- 
ing the tiny victims into its gape. However, the 
Sheatfish is not exclusively carnivorous; vegetable sub- 
stances also enter into its diet. 
From older times we have accounts of assaults 
made by the Sheatfish upon higher animals as well, even 
upon man, or at least of its devouring the bodies of 
drowned persons. Gesner tells us that the stomach of 
a Sheatfish was found to contain a human head and a 
right hand with two gold rings, and that geese, ducks, 
and animals that were being watered, have been seized 
by the same fish. Pallas says of the Sheatfish in Russia 
that it is so voracious that, it does not fear to seize 
bathers by the legs. Valenciennes quotes several accounts 
from Hungary of its attacking children. Heckel and 
Kner state that at Vienna on one occasion a poodle was 
found in the stomach of a Sheatfish, and that at Press- 
burg a similar discovery was made of the remains of a 
boy. E. Svedmark, the geologist, who has collected the 
instances of the occurrence of the Sheatfish in the Di- 
strict of Calmar, was told there that “long ago” a person 
had stood on the shore of Fake Versjo and watched a 
Sheatfish seize a lamb. The Sheatfish is therefore feared, 
this being also due in all probability, as Heckel and 
Kner have remarked, to the bitter experience that a 
few may have had of the obstinate wounds caused by 
the spines on the first pectoral ray of the Sheatfish. 
Specimens of large size may also prove no easy booty 
to their captors. “On Lake Storutter,” writes Svedmark, 
“a fisherman speared in the back a monster that drew 
the punt all round the lake before it finally surren- 
dered.” Lilljeborg tells a similar tale of a Sheatfish 
that was caught on a longline in Lake Immel. 
The Sheatfish is eminently sensitive to changes in 
the weather, especially to thunder, when it may often 
be seen at the surface, as well as at other times on 
warm summer daj^s with drizzling rain (Holm). In many 
places too the Sheatfish passes for a weather-prophet. 
“When it breathes air,” says the fisherman — and this is 
a necessity to most fishes, but above all to the Physo- 
stomes — “it raises itself out of the water like a big, 
black man” (Svedmark). It is extremely tenacious of 
life. A male 19 dm. long was sent by rail on the 30th 
of May, 1889, in a Avooden box containing straAv and 
a little ice, from Lake Bafven to Stockholm. It Avas still 
living on its arrival, and was kept alive for several days in 
a vessel Avhere the water Avas just sufficient, to cover it. 
The spawning-season occurs in the summer (May — 
July), generally about midsummer. “At this season,” 
says Holm, “the Sheatfish is sluggish and lethargic, being 
easy to surprise and capture. This applies in particular 
to the females, which for some time previous to the 
spaAvning lie* among the rushes, Avhere, it is said, the 
female deposits her roe, after first providing a secure 
and convenient receptacle for it by scooping Avith her 
tail a hole in which the young subsequently stay for 
some time.” The ancient account of Aristotle, that 
the male watches the roe, is now regarded as dubious. 
The number of eggs varies as usual according to the 
size of the fish. In a female 1'87 kgm. in Aveight Be- 
necke counted more than 60,000 eggs. The eggs are 
slightly yelloAv, 3 mm. in diameter, and are hatched in 
8 — 14 days. The fry grow quickly, Avhere food is abun- 
dant, attaining in the first, year, according to Brehm°, 
a weight of 3 / 4 kgm., in the second a weight of 1 ’/ 2 
kgm. A fisherman of Strasburg, Baldner by name, 
Avho has left a manuscript written in 1666 and con- 
taining an account of all the birds, fishes, and other 
animals he had taken, tells us that, a Sheatfish caught 
in the. River 111 near Strasburg Avas kept in captivity 
from 1569 to 1620 and during this period attained a 
length of about lV 2 metres. 
Young Sheatfish, less than 1 metre in length, are 
quite eatable, though not exactly easy of digestion. The 
tail is the best part, of the body. The flesh is soft, 
white, and rather sweetish in taste. Valenciennes com- 
pared its flavour most nearly to that of the Eel, but 
Thierleben , Abtli. Ill, Bd. 2, p. 201. 
