Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/115

Rh 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 digesting 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 stomach 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 naturalist, to whom we owe so much of our knowledge 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."