GOBIES AND BLENNIES. 
161 
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i' 
Mullet swim in large shoals, roving from place 
to place, near the surface of the sea. When the 
fishermen perceive an unusual rippling of the 
water, they recognise in it a shoal of fishes ; and if 
it have a peculiar blue appearance, they know the 
shoal to be Mullet. They are chiefly caught with 
I the seine. Large quantities are sometimes taken. 
( Mr. Thompson states that on the 1st of May 
1838, seven hundred weight of these fishes were 
I caught at a single draught, and on the same night, 
I nine hundred-weight were secured by the crew 
; of another boat. Mr. Couch has heard of two 
) tons’ weight being taken at one time. All of 
i these statements refer to the Thick-lipped Mul- 
j let. A Mullet is considered large if it weigh 
5 five or six pounds ; but ten or twelve pounds 
I are sometimes attained, and one is mentioned by 
: Mr. Thompson, w^hich weighed fourteen pounds 
and three-quarters. 
I 
I Family XIV. Gobiad^e. 
! 
I {Gobies and Blennies^ 
I This is a vast assemblage of small and unim- 
I portant fishes, scarcely any of which are of the least 
value to man, and of which the great majority 
I possess little beauty to recommend them to no- 
j tice. Some of them, however, are distinguished 
I by peculiarities of instinct and of habit, of very 
I high interest to the philosophical student of 
nature. The Prince of Canino, in his last con- 
I spectus, elevates this group into the rank of an 
! Order, including in it the Frog-fishes, which we 
I shall consider next after the present, as well 
M 
