Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/117

Rh proverb of vileness, and has passed into the vocabulary of insult. A West Indian species of Gerres is remarkable for the rapidity with which it decomposes, the flesh becoming soft almost immediately after it is dead. Another species of this genus, however (Gerres rhombeus, .) is esteemed one of the best fishes in Jamaica, where it goes by the name of Stone Basse. This little fish is reported by Mr. Couch to visit the coast of Cornwall, arriving there in considerable numbers, accompanying pieces of floating timber covered with Barnacles. Hence it is probable that these shelled Cirripedes form the favourite food of the Gerres, though M. Cuvier says that he has never found in its stomach anything but the remains of very minute fishes. The species of the genus Smaris, which we shall select to illustrate the Family, are sufficiently esteemed to be the subjects of fisheries of some importance, on the European coasts of the Mediterranean.

The general form is that of a Herring, but rather more lengthened in proportion to the breadth. The mouth is very protrusile; the jaws are furnished with fine slender teeth, but the vomer is toothless. The fins are destitute of scales, except some on the sides of the ventrals; the scales between the ventrals are elongated.

The fishes are called Picarels by the French, but on the coasts and among the isles of Greece they retain their ancient name, slightly modified, marida being only a corruption of, the term by which these little fishes were designated