A popular history of British fresh-water fish adapted to the use of schools and colleges or the angler naturalist

Front matter

A POPULAR HISTORY

OF

Adapted to the

Chapter I. Intkoductory Remakks

The age in which we live is emphatically one of use. Utilitarianism, in its best as well as in its worst sense, has struck deep root into the national soil, and in nothing is more strongly shown than in the prevailing character of our literature, in which, if we except the standard three - volumed novel, fiction may be said to have given place to fact, poetry to prose, and the belles lettres generally to works of a quasi moral, political, or scientific character. Amongst the latter, essays on Natural History more or less popularized have been conspicuous for the very favourable reception accorded them by the public ; but of these none have been specially devoted to Ichthyology *, whilst * From the Greek, ichthys, a fish, and logos, a treatise.

B

THE ANGLER-KATURALIST for the most part what has been written has appeared in a detached or fragmentary form, — the information furnished being either too scanty and incomplete, or too diffuse and overlaid with technicalities to suit the requirements of the uninitiated. Thus it results that the " science of fish 33 is still far from being as widely understood and appreciated as amongst a nation of sportsmen might have been naturally expected ; and the young student would probably find himself not a little perplexed in attempting to arrive, unaided, at any clear general conception of a subject which, if stripped of needless difficulties and plainly set before him, he could have mastered with perfect ease.

To the angler the value of even a moderate acquaintance with ichthyology cannot* be exaggerated. Not only is it of the greatest practical use, by the insight which it gives him into the habits, food, spawning-seasons, &c, of the several fish — and consequently into the best means of taking them — but it also doubles the pleasures of success. The most insignificant captures have to the naturalist an interest of their own, apart from their mere weight in ounces. He is able to identify the various species he meets with (many of which would otherwise pass unrecognized), to distinguish their sexes, ages, and conditions, and to read with an intelligent eye the wonders of this marvellous and beautiful page of Nature. In spite of the advance of Fishscience of late years, there are still many moot points and disputed theories connected with it which require elucidation, and possibly new varieties of fish yet to be

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

discovered ; and it may often be within the power of the angler-naturalist to observe and accurately describe characteristics and peculiarities of the highest interest to science. Notwithstanding, however, these inducements, it is astonishing how many there are, calling themselves sportsmen, who are content to remain all their lives simply Killers of fish — of the habits, idiosyncrasies, and even of the very names of which they are too often ignorant. Nor let it be supposed that this is a mere figure of speech: many species, particularly of the Salmon and Carp families, are only distinguishable by minute, though well-defined, differences, imperceptible to the uneducated observer ; and it is perhaps not too much to assert that a very large proportion of the former are chronicled by their captors under names with which they have no connexion whatever.

This observation is even in some degree applicable to old and experienced fishermen. ce Names are the representatives of things ; if a man does not know the names of things in the water, he may sit by it all his lifetime without gaining much information for himself, and absolutely none that he can convey to others. The alphabet of science is its technicalities ; and consequently the unlearned sitter by the water is in an exactly similar position to the man who attempts to study a book without having first learned his ABC."

To their credit be it spoken, however, there are very many who aspire to better things, and who have endeavoured really to qualify themselves for the name of Anglers

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of the first angling nation in the world. England is, indeed, preeminently the land of the rod and line — the fisherman's paradise. There is no other country where the gentle craft is so thoroughly understood and appreciated, and where everything around unites to make a man an angler, and to keep him so. Is he a bottom-fisher ? here he may wander by the margin of ever-gliding streams, knee- deep in meadow-sweet, or, with tranquil mind, muse away life "in the green gleam of dewy-tasseFd trees." Is he a troller? in England he will find broad meres and stately rivers that might ravish the soul of a Nobbes, A fly-fisher ? by the rush of a Dove, or a Coquet, he will be mated with trout and the goddess of scenery —

"Shut in — left alone — with himself, and perfection of water."

Yes, England is the paradise of the angler ; and to England, as Badham has gracefully expressed it, " in after-life, wherever he may have travelled and fished in the mean while, he will be delighted to return, and re- visit the scenes of his angling boyhood — the banks of each well-known stream, the unchanged lake, the paternal pond, and the boat of € auld lang syne ' rising two inches in the boat-house to greet him — that dear old boat to which he used furtively to creep, and, loosing her rusty and trusty chain from its moorings, confide his mistress's name and the earliest efforts of his Muse, or else, in some bright August day,

" ( When showers were short and weather mild .... Would sit all day, with patient skill, Attentive to the trembling quill. 1 "

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

The mere sight of a fishing-line in after-life is oftentimes sufficient, without the aid of other accessories, to awake pleasant memories of the past. " Quels souvenirs touchants cette ligne peut rappeler V3 writes Lacepede : and if there must always be a touch of melancholy blending with these pleasant associations — associations which the chances of life, or of death, may perhaps make it impossible that we should ever renew — depend upon it, it is not the melancholy that " corrodes," but rather the tender sentiment which soothes the heart where it rests, and leaves its owner a kindlier and a better man.

But I am forgetting my utilitarian motto. To all true anglers, then, I venture to submit these pages ; and I would say to them, grudge not a few hours, or even days, to a pursuit which will assuredly repay you fiftyfold by years of after-gratification.

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Chapter II. Geneeal Outlines Of Ichthyology

ORGANIZATION OF FISH. — BREATHING-APPARATUS. — TEMPERATURE OF BLOOD. — SIGHT. — HEARING. — FEELING. — SMELL. — TASTE. — AFFECTIONS. — ORGANS OF DIGESTION. — THE BRAIN. — THE SWIM- BLADDER. — SEXUAL DISTINCTIONS. — ORGANS OF REPRODUCTION. — SCALES : FORMATION AND USES. — MODE OF PROPULSION. — B ONE S. — FINS. — TEETH.

Fishes form the fourth or lowest class of vertebrate animals (i. e. animals possessing a back-bone) in the great systematic division of the Animal Kingdom ; and from the fact that the salt waters alone occupy more than seventenths of the globe's entire surface, and are in all probability inhabited, stratum super stratum, as far as, or even further down than the rays of the sun can penetrate, it will readily be conceived that they are not only the most numerous of all vertebrate animals, but must infinitely exceed in numbers the whole of the other three classes of the same grand division.

What may be the precise depth of these ocean fields at which life ceases and the profound of darkness and death begins, we have no direct means of ascertaining. It necessarily varies, however, with the latitude, being greater as the rays of the sun are more direct, and less as their obliquity increases, and it probably also varies with the nature of the bottom.

GENERAL OUTLINES OP ICHTHYOLOGY.

Duly to apprehend the various plans on which fish are constructed requires a thorough acquaintance with piscine organization in all its forms ; and even a condensed treatise on such a subject would necessarily occupy a volume. In the present outline, therefore, the general characteristics and most remarkable features only are brought before the reader, his attention being more particularly directed to those organs upon the modifications of which the classification of the various families and species, especially of fresh- water fish, is based.

Fishes are, in scientific phraseology, " Oviparous Vertebrata — that is, vertebrate animals bringing forth eggs — with a double circulation, and respiring through the medium of water."

In common with other animals of the same division, they possess a continuous longitudinal nervous axis, commonly called the ' spinal marrow/ situated in the centre of the spine, and composed of four parallel columns, one pair of which receive the nerves of sensation, coming from the surface of the body, and the other pair form the roots of the nerves of volition, or action, in connexion with the muscles governing the movements of the fish. The vertebra, or joints of the spine, forming the back-bone, in which this nervous axis lies, are in many fishes wholly gristly, or cartilaginous, but in others more or less bony.

The term ' spinal column 9 includes both the nervous axis, or spinal marrow, and its envelope.

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By an enlargement of the anterior *, or more forward, end of the nervous axis, the brain is formed, with which the nerves of smell, sight, taste, and hearing are connected.

Immediately under the spinal column, and divided from each other by thin membranes, are situated the organs of respiration, circulation, digestion, excretion, and also, when it exists, the air- or swim-bladder f. This type of structure is common to all vertebrate animals ; but the peculiar attribute of Fishes is, that in them the function of respiration, or oxygenation of the blood, is performed through the medium of water, not merely temporarily, but during the continuance of life.

Breathing-apparatus.

For this purpose they have, on each side of the neck, gills (branchiceX), consisting of arches of bone, to which the filaments, or spongy portions, of the gills are attached, and which have their surfaces covered by a tissue of innumerable blood-vessels. There are five of these branchial, or gill-, arches in fish, of which four support gills, the fifth being appropriated to the ' dentiferous pharyngeal arch/ a bony arch in the throat, bearing teeth. In breathing, the water is taken in at the mouth, and, after passing through the gills, is allowed to escape behind by the gill-openings. In its passage through the gills and gill-fila-

* Anterior — used to signify the part nearest the nose of a fish, — which is sometimes also named proximal, the Latin for i nearest.' t Sometimes called the 'hydrostatic organ.' J Latin for 'gills.'

GENERAL OUTLINES OF ICHTHYOLOGY.

ments, the water imparts to the latter the oxygen of the air which it contains, and receives carbon in return, as in the lungs of an air-breathing animal : the gills do not decompose the water, so as to derive oxygen from it, but merely separate the oxygen from the common air contained in the water ; hence, if water is deprived of this air, or impregnated with unwholesome gases, fish cannot exist in it.

The blood is propelled to the gills by the heart, which thus answers to the right ventricle of warm-blooded animals ; and from the gills it is sent to an arterial trunk, lying immediately under the back-bone, which is the left, or systemic, ventricle of the heart, and which sends the blood throughout the body of the fish.

The gills of fish possess the power of imbibing oxygen not only from that portion of air which is mixed with the water, but also directly from the atmospheric air itself ; and this process may frequently be observed in a vivarium, or other receptacle for fish, where the water is foul, or not changed sufficiently often. I recently witnessed a remarkable example in the case of a stock-pond newly constructed, into which the fish had been put before the water had properly cleared. In this instance the whole shoal, amounting in all to some hundreds, consisting of various species, remained for long periods together with their mouths partially out of water, for the purpose of breathing. It has also been observed that when fish confined in a limited space are prevented by any means from taking in air at the surface, they die much sooner than others which

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are allowed to do so. The great majority of fishes, however, cannot continue to breathe in atmospheric air alone beyond a very limited period, as, without the aid of fluid, the gill-filaments shortly become stuck together, when of course the air cannot pass between them, and they lose the power of imbibing oxygen. Hence the gasping of fishes out of water, which is the effort of Nature to separate the gill-filaments.

Temperature of Blood.

The consumption of oxygen in all fishes is comparatively small, which may be the cause of the cold nature of their blood; and the temperature of the bodies of fish that swim near the bottom is seldom more than two or three degrees higher than that of the water at its surface*. In surface-swimmers a temperature of 10° Fahr. above that of the water has been occasionally found ; and it may be received as a general law, that those fish which swim near the surface have a high standard of respiration (and therefore of temperature), die rapidly on being taken out of water, and have flesh prone to quick decomposition, — and vice versa.

* A very ingenious application of this principle has lately been made, by the invention of a machine for re-oxygenating the water in bait-kettles, vivaria, &c. The apparatus is composed of a tube formed in the shape of the letter T, to the perpendicular of which an indiarubber air-ball, or a pair of bellows, is attached. The transverse portion of the tube is pierced full of minute holes, which, being placed in the kettle, the air, upon pressure of the ball, is forced out into the water, which is thus made fit for respiration.

Two better examples of these laws could not perhaps be given than those of the Bleak, a surface-swimmer, and the Tench, a ground-swimmer. Amongst sea-fish, Mackerels, Salmon, and Herrings may be quoted as instances of the former law, and Eels, Flat-fish, and Skate of its converse.

Fish are sometimes designated " surface-swimmers/' " midwater-swimmers," or " ground- swimmers," according to the part of the water which they naturally inhabit.

With a low standard of respiration, and tenacity of life, is connected the extraordinary power exhibited by some species of sustaining extremes of high and low temperature. The Gold-fish lives and thrives in water as high as 85° Fahr. Fishes exist in the hot springs and baths of various countries, ranging from 113° to 120°; and in South America Humboldt saw fish thrown up alive, and apparently in health, from the bottom of a volcano, along with water and heated vapour which raised the thermometer to 210°, or two degrees below the boiling-point.

On the other hand, in parts of Europe and North America, Perch and Eels, and several species of Carp, are not uncommonly frozen and thawed again, and even transported from place to place in a frozen state, without injury to life.

Sight.

The eyes of fish occupy entirely different positions in the different species, — in some, such as the Skate, being placed high up, near the top of the head, and in others, as the Pike, lower down on the side of the head (the more

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frequent situation) — their position, however, being always adjusted to suit the habits of the particular fish. The external surface of the eye itself is nearly flat, but the lens is spherical — a structure which, in a dense medium, affords the greatest power of vision at short or moderate distances, rather than a very long sight. When water is clear and undisturbed, however, the sight of fishes is very acute ; and for this reason it is that a ruffled water is always preferable to a smooth one for purposes of fishing. I believe myself that the sight of fish in clear water is longer than is generally supposed. Standing by the side of a Scotch loch in bright calm weather, I have frequently remarked a Pike basking at from fifteen to twenty-five yards from the shore, and could plainly perceive that the observation was mutual. The fish, after fixedly regarding me for a few moments, has generally backed slowly away into the deep water, disappearing so motionlessly — if I may use the expression— that the eye was hardly conscious of its retreat until it became aware that it had vanished. Moreover, it is well known that a basking Chub will sink upon the flitting of a swallow across the river ; that in ponds where Carp are habitually fed by visitors, the former will follow the latter about for the expected largesse ; and that instances have been authenticated — in several cases under my own observation, elsewhere detailed — in which fish evidently recognized their keepers, as well by sight as by sound : thus clearly leading to the inference that, when ive can see the fish, the fish can see us.

By all means, therefore, let the fisherman study to keep as far away from the water, and as much out of sight as possible. This is the first of the two golden rules for successful angling.

Hearing.

Much has been written at different times by clever anatomists * on the subject of the sense of hearing in fish, some denying its existence entirely, and others asserting it in a greater or less degree, — the former basing their arguments mainly on the absence, in most species, of any external auricular orifice, and the latter upon the internal structure of the head, and practical experiment.

The probabilities of the question would appear to be with those who maintain the existence of the sense, for these reasons : —

1. Because all fish, though generally wanting the Eustachian tube, and tympanal bones, have internal ears, or sacs which, if they do not answer the purpose of hearing, certainly cannot be proved to answer any other. 2. Because water, though the denser medium, is necessarily more or less impressible by the waves of air, or sound, and a vibration of the one, therefore, cannot but cause a corresponding vibration of the other, — water, moreover, receiving the vibration of the ground. And 3. Because

* See Physiological Researches, by Prof. Brescliet (Paris) ; Dissertation cm the Organ of Hearing in Man, Reptiles, and Pish, GeofFroy ; Structure and Physiology of Fishes, Monro ; and the works of Cuvier, Valenciennes, Hunter, and others.

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every fisherman knows, as a matter of experience, not only that fish can, and do, hear loud noises, but that they are constantly frightened away from his neighbourhood by them.

Instances in confirmation of this might be adduced ad infinitum ; I will merely quote one or two mentioned by Mr. Yarrell. The Chinese, who breed large quantities of gold-fish, call them with a whistle to receive their food. Sir Joseph Banks used to collect his fish by sounding a bell ; and Carew, the historian of Cornwall, brought his grey mullet together to be fed by making a noise with two sticks. Several other anecdotes bearing upon this subject will be found in the course of the volume.

To keep perfectly quiet, then, should be the angler's second golden rule.

Feeling.

The rigid nature of the scaly covering in the generality of fish renders it probable that they possess but little external sense of touch. Many of their members are more independent of each other than those of warm-blooded animals ; they seem less connected with common centres, " in this respect," as Mr. Kirby says, " rather resembling vegetables"*. Some of their parts, such as the fins, if mutilated, can be reproduced ; and, indeed, a fish, like a reptile, may be cut and almost dismembered without appearing to suffer materially. Thus, the shark from which a harpoon has just dragged a portion of its flesh pursues

* Bridgewater Treatises.

its prey without any apparent loss of appetite or energy. All anglers are well acquainted with the fact that a pike will constantly take a fresh bait immediately after escaping from the hook, and often with the broken tackle still imbedded in his jaws. Mr. Stoddart* even mentions a case in which this occurred after the fish had been for some time in his basket, from which however it escaped, and was instantly taken a second time. I have myself hooked the same pike with the spoon-bait three times within as many minutes; and an incident, elsewhere referred to, which occurred to me before several witnesses, where a perch was actually caught with its own eye, would appear to remove any doubts that may remain on the subject.

It must not be inferred, however, that fish are wrholly destitute of the organs of feeling, which, indeed, are essential to a certain extent for their self-preservation. The lips in many species are soft and pulpy ; the mouths of others are provided with barbules, or cirri, — sometimes called 'barbels/ or c beards/ — largely supplied with nerves, and acting, doubtless, as delicate organs of touch, for detecting the nature of the substances with which they come in contact. A remarkable instance is observable in the Gurnards, which may be said to be provided with long, flexible, and sensitive fingers, to compensate for their bony lips. It is an almost universal rule, that ' bearded ' fish obtain their food close to the ground ; and these feelers appear to be given, as a valuable equivalent, to species which, restricted

* Angler's Companion.

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by instinct to feeding near the bottom of water that is often turbid and deep, must necessarily experience more or less imperfect vision from the deficiency of light.

Fishes are subject to comparatively few diseases, probably owing to the even temperature of the medium in which they exist. They are, however, very liable to external and internal parasites, which (with the exception of those peculiar to the Salmon) generally attach themselves to sick or wrounded fish.

Smell.

The sense of smell is considered by most comparative anatomists to be very perfect. The nerves of smell are large, and the extent of the membranes over which they expand so considerable, that in a shark 25 feet long it has been calculated at from 12 to 13 square feet. The discrimination shown by fish in the selection and rejection of their ordinary food, and the preference stated to be exhibited for certain scented oils, &c, have been adduced as arguments in favour of their acuteness of smell ; and there is no question that sharks will pick out and follow a vessel having slaves on board — a circumstance difficult to be accounted for, except on the supposition that they discover the nature of their cargo by scent.

The nostrils, which are simple cavities near the end of the muzzle, divided by a membrane, are generally pierced with two holes, but both openings lead to the same common canal.

Taste.

The sense of taste in fish is probably low, as a great part of the tongue is bony, and frequently furnished with teeth, placed there for the purpose of prehension. Obliged necessarily to open and close the jaws in respiring, they cannot long retain food in the mouth when quite shut, and the substance, if of small size, must be swallowed quickly and without much mastication. It has been thought possible, from the bony nature of the tongue and the shape of the teeth, which are calculated to assist in conveying food to the back of the mouth, that the sense of taste may reside in the soft, fleshy portions of the throat. A low sense of taste generally, however, would appear to be inferred from the fact that fish are often unable to distinguish poisonous substances, and are accordingly frequently destroyed wholesale by poachers. The sense of taste is more developed in the herbivorous than in the carnivorous fishes.

Affections.

Under certain circumstances fish have been known to exhibit a very decided affection for members both of their own and of other species. Such affection, however, has been most commonly observed to exist between fishes of the same species, but of opposite sexes, at the time of spawning.

Organs of Digestion.

The intestines of fish generally are short, and the diges-

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tive process very rapid — so rapid, in fact, in some of the carnivorous species as to have been compared to the action of fire. I have mentioned elsewhere the case of a pike taken with a large eel sticking in his throat half swallowed, the head-portion being already semidigested, whilst the tail, still alive and struggling, protruded from his jaws. The digestive process is most rapid, and the intestines shortest, in those species which live principally, or wholly, on animal food; and the intestines are considerably longer, and the digestion proportionably slower, in those which feed on vegetable substances. The same principle is observable amongst other classes of the Animal Kingdom.

In some species, such for instance as the Grey Mullet and the Gillaroo Trout, which swallow their prey whole, the walls of the stomach are thickened, so as to afford increased muscular power ; and in such species the stomach has a considerable resemblance to the gizzard of a bird. The intestines and stomach differ materially in different families.

The kidneys are situated under and against the spine.

The Brain.

The brain of fishes, which is exceedingly small in proportion to their size, is formed by an enlargement of the extremity of the nervous axis, or spinal marrow, and is disposed as in reptiles, with the addition of { nodes 9 or ' ganglions 9 at the base of the nerves of smell. The proportionate weight of brain in a Pike, as compared with its body, is as 1 to 1300 ; in the Shark, as 1 to 2500 ; and in the Tunny — a remarkably stupid fish — but as 1 to 8700.

The Swimming- (or Air-) Bladder.

Inhabiting an element which is of very nearly the same specific gravity as their own bodies, fishes have no weight to bear, but have merely to propel themselves through the water; and their form, structure, and organs of motion are all adapted to this one purpose, according to the requirements of each species. Many families have, however, under the spine, in the abdomen, an air- or c swimming '-bladder, varying in shape in various species, which they can expand or contract at pleasure; and this is believed to be for the purpose of enabling them to alter their specific gravity to suit the densities, at different depths, of the water in which they desire to swim or suspend themselves. Many species, notwithstanding, though wanting this apparatus, have very nearly the same habits as those which are possessed of it ; and in some of these latter there is no external passage by which the air in the bladder can be inspired or expressed.

The contents of these bladders have been found upon analysis to consist sometimes of pure nitrogen, sometimes of almost pure oxygen, sometimes of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid combined in varying proportions, but rarely of common atmospheric air. Some bladders are composed of a single chamber or cavity ; others of two

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chambers, and a few of three. Swimming-bladders are more general amongst fresh- than amongst salt-water fish. The whole subject is still, however, involved in considerable obscurity; but an interesting chapter upon it will be found in Mr. YarrelFs work on British Fishes *. The annexed woodcut exhibits a section of the air-bladder of the common Carp, with a probe introduced between the two chambers.

Sexual Distinctions.

If we omit one or two species, there are no very obvious external signs by which the sexes of fish can be identified (except when in spawn, as hereafter explained). The distinguishing peculiarities, however, which, with a little practice, will be found sufficient guides, are as follows : —

In the males, the respiratory organs, or gills, are larger than in the females, and, on the other hand, the abdomen or stomach is smaller. The males may therefore be known from the females by their somewhat sharper or more pointed muzzles, by the greater length of the gill-covers,, and by the body, from the back-fin downwards, being less deep as compared with the whole length of the fish.

* 3rd edit., vol. ii.

Organs of Reproduction.

The productiveness of fish — a productiveness compared to which that of every other living creature appears insignificant— is limitless as the seas through which they are destined to range. The young produced by one Cod-fish at a single deposit have been found to number little short of four millions, and those of a Flounder to exceed one hundred and forty thousand.

With but one or two exceptions, fishes, as before stated, are oviparous, c bringing forth eggs and the organs for this purpose are of the simplest possible description. As the spawning-season approaches, two elongated lobes, or rolls, of roe are formed between the ribs and the intestinal canal, one on each side of the body : these, in the female, are called hard roe whilst in the fish, and spawn after being deposited ; and in the male, milt, or soft roe, in both cases. The membranes or bags in which these lobes of roe are confined are, in the female, sacs, and in the male, glands, termed milts. The lobes of roe in the female consist of a vast number of separate grains, called ova, or eggs, partially glued together, and enclosed in the bag or sac reaching to the side of the anal aperture, through which egress is permitted at the proper time. In the male the lobes of roe are smaller than in the female, and present the appearance of whitish fat ; they remain firm until the actual spawning-season, when they become gradually fluid, and are ultimately voided in small portions at a time, on the abdomen of the fish being slightly pressed.