. The popular natural history . Zoology. 484 THE ANCHOVY. electricity, and when the fishes are thoroughly fatigued they are captured with impunity by the native hunters. A most interesting account of this process is given by Humboldt, but is too long to be inserted in these pages. Several of these wonderful fish have been brought to England in a living state ; and many of my readers may remember the fine Gymnotus that lived in the Polytechnic Institution. Numbers of experimenters were accustomed daily to test its powers ; and the fatal, or at all events the numbing, power of the stroke was evi
. The popular natural history . Zoology. 484 THE ANCHOVY. electricity, and when the fishes are thoroughly fatigued they are captured with impunity by the native hunters. A most interesting account of this process is given by Humboldt, but is too long to be inserted in these pages. Several of these wonderful fish have been brought to England in a living state ; and many of my readers may remember the fine Gymnotus that lived in the Polytechnic Institution. Numbers of experimenters were accustomed daily to test its powers ; and the fatal, or at all events the numbing, power of the stroke was evident when the creature was supplied with the fish on which it fed. Though blind, it was accustomed to turn its head towards the spot designated by the splashing of the attendant's finger, and as soon as a fish was allowed to fall into the water the Gymnotus would curve itsell slightly, seemed to stiffen its muscles, and the victim turned over on its baclc, strucli as if dead by the violence of the shock. When full grown, the Electric Eel will attain a length of five or six feet, and is then a truly formidable creature. The body is rounded, and the scales small and barely visible. According to Marcgrave, the native name for this fish is Carapo. We now come to that most valuable family of fishes, the Herring tribe called technically Clupeidas, from the Latin word clupea, " a ; The well-known Anchovy is properly a native of the Mediterranean Sea, though it often occurs on our coasts, and has once or twice been captured in our rivers. Indeed, one practical writer on British fishes thinks that the capture of the Anchovy off our shores is a task that would be highly remu- nerative if properly undertaken, and that, with proper pains, the British markets might be fully supplied with Anchovies from our own seas. This little fish has long been famous for the powerful and unique flavour of its flesh, and is in conse- quence captured in vast quantities for the purpose of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1884
