CORNISH SUCKER. 
197 
water exceeding a few fathoms in depth; but it is widely dis- 
tributed, and has been noticed round the shores of England and 
Ireland. Risso, as referred to, also classes it among the fishes 
of the Mediterranean. Its food is the smaller crustacean animals, 
which it swallows whole. It is large with spawn in March, 
and the grains are of considerable size in proportion to the 
bulk of the fish. I have found what might be thought a little 
family of five or six of different sizes, under one stone. 
A full-grown example of the Cornish Sucker measures four 
inches in length; the forward portion of the body and head 
depressed and broad, but it sinks before the eyes, and the snout 
grows narrower, and projects in the form of the bill of a duck, 
although proportionally wider. The gape is wide, lips mem- 
branous, under jaw narrow, and shorter than the upper. Eyes 
lateral; nostrils at a small distance before them, and close to 
each nostril two threads or processes, the longest of which in 
an example two inches in length, measured the tenth of an 
inch, and is branched like a deer’s horn. The body becomes 
compressed opposite the dorsal fin, and tapers to the tail. The 
single dorsal fin begins at two thirds of the whole length; the 
anal fin begins behind this, and both run back to be joined to 
the tail; the latter small and round. Pectoral fins behind the 
greatest breadth; united to the sucking organ, which is a double 
disk, separated by a channel; their circles formed of small 
tubercles. The colour varies from purple, with a tinge of pink, 
to crimson or dull red; the belly pale red; and the colours of 
the body extend to the fins. Behind the eyes are two round 
spots, of a darker colour than the general surface, with a centre 
marked with light blue, and a light coloured border; in some 
cases these outer borders touching each othei, with a light 
coloured line stretched out behind each of them ; and across, 
from one eye to the other, a. straight band, with one or two 
bent lines, having an angle directed backward. 
