RED MULLET. 
65 
red and yellow. The fry are described by Malm (1. c.) 
as grayish green on the back and the upper third of 
the head, and with this exception glossy silver-white 
with grayish dorsal fins, the anterior with two oblique, 
blackish bands, the posterior with one. Our figure is 
coloured from the specimen (a male) caught by Mr. 
C. A. Hansson in a mackerel-net on the 6th of August, 
1886, at Starekilen in the north of Bohusl&n, which, 
though somewhat damaged, seems to have preserved 
its colour fairly well, until it was presented by Mr. 
Hansson to the Royal Museum some time afterwards. 
In olden times the Red Mallet was one of the 
dearest fishes, and appeared only on the tables of rich 
epicures. u La Triglia non mangia clii la piglia ” (the 
Mullet is never eaten by him who catches it), says an 
old Italian proverb. It was not uncommon, even among 
Roman citizens, to have to pay for the Mullet its weight 
in pure silver. Suetonius, in the time of the Emperor 
Tiberius, mentions three mullets which were sold for 
30,000 sesterces (<£227). People went so far as to 
bring these fishes from distant waters and keep them 
alive in aquaria or ponds until needed for table. “The 
fishes,” says Seneca, “swim at the guests’ feet, and they 
are set under the table so as to be nearer to hand. 
A Mullet is not considered fresh unless it dies in the 
guest’s hand. They are brought to table in a glass 
vessel, and the company admire the changes of colour 
they undergo during the pangs of a long and painful 
death. Formerly one might hear it said, ‘Nothing 
is better than a rock Mullet,’ but now people say, 
‘Nothing is more beautiful than a dying Mullet; give 
me the glass dish, that I may watch it struggle and 
quiver.’ When their admiration has exhausted itself 
in praises, the fish is taken out of the transparent bowl ; 
and now the connoisseurs begin to instruct their more 
unsophisticated friends. ‘Do you see that flame-red 
colour, livelier than the fairest vermilion, those swelling 
veins along the sides? One might fancy the belly was 
blood. Have you observed that azure lustre glowing 
on its gills?’ ” This custom had naturally arisen from 
a desire to enjoy the fish when as fresh as possible, 
and up to the present day, in order to satisfy the eye, 
as well as the other senses, of the freshness of this 
delicious fish, it is scaled alive, the pigment cells of 
the skin thus becoming convulsively contracted by pain. 
The taste for this fish has latterly decreased, though 
it still ranks as one of the best of fishes, on account 
of its firm, white flesh, which is of good flavour and 
easy of digestion. The liver is considered the most 
delicious part, and in the estimation of epicures the 
head comes next. 
The Mullet has about the same geographical range 
as the Sea Bream — the Mediterranean and the At- 
lantic outside it. To Sweden its visits are few and 
far between, but it has several times been taken by 
herring-fishers off Kullen; and the small fry described 
by Malm, which were taken on two occasions in Gull- 
maren, prove that it may propagate its species here. 
The larger form, the Gold-striped Mullet, is the more 
common in the Atlantic, being found as far north as 
the neighbourhood of Bergen, while the smaller, the 
Red Mullet, is the more common in the Mediterranean 
and the Black Sea. The species attains its greatest 
size in the west of the English Channel, according to 
Couch". Off Yarmouth, too, it is sometimes so plenti- 
ful that in one week (in May, 1831) 10,000 are said 
to have been sent from this town to London. In win- 
ter it is taken in deep water with a trawl, in spring 
it makes for the shore, where it is caught in trammels 
or with a seine. 
“ Fish . Brit . Isl . , Vol. I, p. 209. 
9 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
