Fishes of the Perch FamilyHenry G. Bohn, 1861 - 207 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant Acerina Ambassis anal fin angle angler animals Apogon appear bands beautiful belly Black Bass body brownish Canine teeth centre Centropomus Centropristes cheeks Cheilodipterus CHEILODIPTERUS ARABICUS colour COMMON PERCH covered creatures Cuvier delicate Diacope division dorsal fin Dr Solander edge esteemed eyes feet fishery fossil genus gills golden grayish head Hist Holland Seas hook ichthyologists inches in length inhabitants jaws known Labrax lateral line lengthened Linnæus lower marked Mediterranean membrane ment Mesoprion native nearly observations opercle palatine bone pectoral fins Pentaceros Perca PERCH fishes Percoid Percoid fishes pike placed PLATE Plectropoma Poissons ponds preopercle rays remarkable resemblance rivers Royal Society Rypticus scales Serranus serrated seven rays sides silvery Sir Joseph Banks skin spawn species specimen spiny spots strong spines suborbitary bones surface swimming bladder tail taken tint toothed trespass upper Valen ventral fins vomer voyage whole yellow yellowish
Popular passages
Page 184 - And if myself have leave to see, I need not their light, having thee. Let others freeze with angling reeds, And cut their legs with shells and weeds, Or treacherously poor fish beset With strangling snare, or windowy net: 1o Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest The bedded fish in banks out-wrest, Or curious traitors, sleave-silk flies Bewitch poor fishes
Page 184 - Come live with me, and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove, Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, With silken lines, and silver hooks. There will the river whispering run, Warm'd by thy eyes more than the sun ; And there the enamel'd fish will stay, Begging themselves they may betray.
Page 83 - Indians, provided with harpoons and long slender reeds, surround the pool closely ; and some climb upon the trees, the branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. By their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of their electric batteries.
Page 84 - Indians into the middle of the water; but a small number succeed in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shocks of the gymnoti.
Page 83 - The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim >on the surface of the water, and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organization furnishes a very striking spectacle.
Page 23 - Of twelve, the number that set out together in health and spirits, two were supposed to be already dead; a third was so ill, that it was very doubtful whether he would be able to go forward in the morning; and a fourth, Mr Buchan, was in danger of a return of his fits, by fresh fatigue, after so uncomfortable a night: They were distant from the ship a long day's journey, through pathless woods, in which it was too probable they might be bewildered till they were overtaken by the next night; and,...
Page 73 - In those terrestrial excursions, large droves of the species are frequently met with during very dry seasons, for it is only at such periods that they are compelled to this dangerous march, which exposes them as a prey to so many and such various enemies.
Page 82 - We found it difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw our guides return, from the Savannah, which they had been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the pool. " The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat.
Page 84 - They are drowned from the impossibility of rising amid the prolonged struggle between the other horses and the eels. We had little doubt, that the fishing would terminate by killing successively all the animals engaged ; but by degrees the impetuosity of this unequal combat diminished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed.
Page 82 - ... the young alligators before they are attacked by them. All the inhabitants of the waters dread the society of the gymnoti. Lizards, tortoises, and frogs seek the pools, where they are secure from their action. It became necessary to change the direction of a road near Uritucu, because these electrical eels were so numerous in one river, that they every year killed a great number of mules of burden., as they forded the water.