Читать книгу The History of Esculent Fish - Roger North - Страница 10

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Is a name given indeterminately to fish of several kinds; but the true meaning of the word is the same with that of the Mugil, or Cephalus. The characters of the Mugil are these. The branchiostege membrane on each side contains six crooked bones; the upper one being the broadest, and hid under the gills; only five are discernible; the scales are large, and cover the head and the opercula of the gills, as well as the body of the fish. The head is depressed in the anterior part; the body oblong and compressed. According to these distinctions, there is only one species of Mugil, namely, the Mugil of Ovid and the Ancients. It resembles the Thymallus in its external figure; its jaws are tender and thin, and have no teeth in them; the tail is forked. The Linnæan system reckons two species; viz. the Cephalus and Albula.

Three or four different species of the Mugil have been described by Rondeletius and others; but their difference seems to arise merely from age, place, and the like accidents.

The nose is sharp, the belly bowed; the head plain and flatted; the scales are very large, and cover the body entirely. The back is of a dusky blue, or greenish-brown colour; the belly white, and the sides variegated, from the head to the tail, with green and black lines; its tongue is rather rough; it has no teeth. It preys upon no fish, and is therefore supposed to feed on weeds. At certain times it comes up the river, but it is generally caught at sea.

The Mullet is a very good tasted fish; we make tobago of its spawn.

Mullets are to be found chiefly on the sandy coasts; particularly where there are influxes of fresh water. They come in great shoals; and they keep rooting the mud like hogs, and leave their trace in the form of large round holes.

They are very cunning; and when surrounded with a net, the whole shoal frequently escape by leaping over it; for if one takes the lead, the others are sure to follow.

Perca. Perche. A Pearch. Eleazar Albin Del. July 8. 1736.

The Pearch from the River Rhine. Eleaz. Albin del: May 1. 1739.