SEA-BREAMS. 
101 
Couch says, They devour the green species of 
sea-weeds, which they bite from the rocks, and 
for bruising which their teeth are well suited, as 
are their long and capacious intestines for di- 
gesting it.” The great strength of their jaws and 
teeth, however, bespeaks heavier labour assigned 
to these organs than that of bruising sea-weeds. 
Colonel Montagu found in the stomach of one, 
besides some small Sand-launce, the limbs of 
crabs, and fragments of shells. And in the sto- 
mach of one which we lately examined, there 
were found numbers of bivalve shells, all of one 
kind, a small grey Tellina^ some of which were 
perfect, but most were broken, crushed, and 
ground down to a coarse powder by the action of 
the strong molars. 
‘^In its general habits,” says the excellent na- 
turali^ti to whom we owe so much of our know- 
ledge of the fishes of the west of England, the 
Sea-Bream might be considered a solitary fish ; 
as when they most abound, the assemblage is 
formed commonly for no other purpose than the 
pursuit of food. Yet there are exceptions to 
this; and fishermen inform me of instances in 
which multitudes are seen congregated at the 
surface, moving slowly along as if engaged in 
some important expedition. This happens most 
frequently over rocky ground in deep water.”'^ 
* Cited in Yarrell’s British Fishes, i. 125. 
