Marine biological report for the year ended ..and the half year ending .. . 7 did not, however, resemble any other well-known fish in Hol-land, and its rather long, flat body, its pointed snout, and thefact that the long spiny dorsal fin usually lies concealed in aa groove, doubtless suggested the name given it by the earlyDutch sailors ; a name which in the mind of South Africanshas become so identified with the Cape fish that they aresomewhat puzzled when visiting Holland to find fish laidout on the market slabs as Snoek, so totally different fromthe one they know under that name. Even in so
Marine biological report for the year ended ..and the half year ending .. . 7 did not, however, resemble any other well-known fish in Hol-land, and its rather long, flat body, its pointed snout, and thefact that the long spiny dorsal fin usually lies concealed in aa groove, doubtless suggested the name given it by the earlyDutch sailors ; a name which in the mind of South Africanshas become so identified with the Cape fish that they aresomewhat puzzled when visiting Holland to find fish laidout on the market slabs as Snoek, so totally different fromthe one they know under that name. Even in some Capeofficial volumes van Riebeeks Zee-snoek is translated Sea-snoek. Kolben at a later date mentions the occurrenceof the Pike at the Cape, and states that it is here not a treshwater but a sea fish. Otherwise he says it is identical with theEuropean fish. Specimens of the fish were subsequently (about 1791) sentto Holland for examination, and were declared by Euphrascn,a distinguished Dutch zoologist, to be a species of Mackerel(Scomber), which he named Scomber The Snoek (Thyrsites atitn, Euphr.). The Snoek was afterwards re-discovered (1802) and namedby the naturalist Bory Saint Vincent in his Voyage auxquatre iles des mers dAfrique Acinace batarde, as hethought it showed relationship both with the Mackerels andSwordfishes. With the expansion of geographical knowledge it was foundthat the same fish occvuTed in New Zealand, and as far fromthis region as the coast of Chile. Specimens were afterwards sent to France from the Cape,and a further examination (1831) proved that it belonged to adistinct genus, and was to be classified along with a rather rareEuropean fish, the Scabbard-fish (Lepidopus), and not with theMackerels. This family of fishes (the Trichiuridge) are inhabi-tants of the great oceans, and are strong swimmers, as mightbe expected from their long flat body with few or no are among the pirates of the high seas, and most of th^^mare armed with
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