Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-03
Odd Fish.
[From All the Year Round.l


 hath four eyes, two on each side, one above another '' This fish, from it's faculty of sec ing double, is probably caught ha1f-seas over, but in swimming it is observed to keep the uppermost two under water" As many fish at particular seasons ttpri1ne"-that is come to the surface and swim half submerged, may not the the reflection or refraetion of the water have had it's dual effect upon the eyes of the intelligent observer ?
 Captain Leigh in his voyage to Guiana re- counts ssWe saw white thing floating up- on the water, which sunk when the ship came within fifty or sixty paces of 1t. It resembled a mans head without hair. Some said they saw great many of them, and observed two black eyes and mouth open upon them. We also saw 6 strange kind of fish, about as long as an ordinary lamprey, and equally round j; with large fin or crest above foot high over it's head, and stopped in continued se- ries down to it's tail. It swims upon one side, so that the fin, together with the body, represents a large fish of triangular form, and it makes it's way by shifting from one side to the other. But when it catches its prey the fin is straight, and appears above water of an ashy color, though the body is as white and round as tallow candle" This is corroborated by Thevenol
 Sir Thomas Herbert gives an account of dolphins which he says were no bigger than a salmon, and that these also were incredibly swift He was on the coast of Zanquebar a large kingdom on the east side of the Cape of Good Hope. There he saw great numbers of dolphins, of which he gives this descrip- tion: That they much affect the company of men, and are nourished like men. They are always constant to their mates, embrace, go with young ten months are so tenderly af- fected to their parents that when they are three hundred years old they feed and defend them against hungry fishes, and when they die carry them ashore and bury them''
 At Kilgarring, Pembroke, there is a cata- ract in the river, called the Salmon Leap, be- cause they take their tails in their teeth and spring over the cataract. This notion still prevails in Norway and Sweden
 Perhaps the tallow-eandle fish mentioned by Captain Leigh is relation of the one no- ticed in the eColonist, December, 1879, as fol lows:
 ssIn the waters of British North America. as we are informed, there is a fish, an odd fish, as surprising in it's way as the sea-ser- pent, and infinitely more useful It is a species of smelt, and may be poetically de- scribed as an aquatic glow-worm. We are told it may be literally used in the same way as candle, by simply setting light to the tail, when it will burn with flame as steady as that of the dips which our grandfather used to have to put up with before gas was | invented. It is 8 small, silvery fish, aYerag | ing about fourteen inches long, is excessively 1 fat and affords an excellent and valuable oil
 
 ! cass will serve as torch. Among the na | tives the fish Is known as the oolahan and by I them as by others who have tasted it, it il ! considered one of the most delicious product; ! of the sea, being far more delicate in flavor | than the herring. The fish are caught il | wicker baskets, and are smoked as much a; 1 their own oily nature will allow.n
 l Here are some very odd fish from the Dan | ube:
 ssThe river Danube has great plenty O fish, and one sort uncommon called the hell
 SOW, very large fish, some of them twent, I feet long, swhich are supposed to come out O the Euxine sea. They taste like sturgeon 1 and have hollow nervous chord down tn l back, which when dried they use instead of ! whip. When they fish for them they blow 1 horn or a trumpet, the noise of whicl | brings great shoals about their boats. Ther 1 is fish called grundel that has six boards two short and four long"
 l Mir Fotherby tells us that in the Caspian 1 Sea there is deformed sort of fish caIIe, ] the glutton whose head seems to be within \ it's belly. It has round tail seven or eigh 1 feet broad, and many long, by which i I canAoverturn 8 boat.
 l Poisonous fishes are often alluded to in an | cient works, and it is but due to their au | thors to say that their statements have beer
 fully confirmed by subsequent inquiry int, 1 results. There is no doubt that congers pike and barbel have been long, and still are 1 recognized in Europe as poisonous at certai1 seasons, and the roe of the barrel especially ] so. But it is curious to observe that identi l cally the same fish caught in two differen | attitudes shall possess the extremely opposit ! qualities of wholesomeness and otherwise l Dr. Stuart Eldridge states that the sal mon is doubtless the most common toxic fisl l of Japan. From the spring onward this fish i ! out of season, and if eaten after that periot | of the year occasions such accidents as follow l the eating of tainted meat In Japan the ik, dangers follow the eating of the kateut l Cbonito) and the maguro. The Lethrinul 1 nambo can be eaten with impunity until it at 1 tains certain size-say length olive to fiv, l and half inches-after which it becomes 1 poisonous. Here then it would appear tha 1 the age of the fish has something to do witt I it's injurious qualities. Pappenheim gives 1 list of more than forty poisonous species I principally inhabitants of the torrid zone Among these we find mackerel, perches, her rings, -pikes, and large number of spe cies belonging to the order Plectognathis 1 The latter order contains five genera that arc ! poisonows; the most common genus in Japan 1 is the teutraosow, or swell fish, the species ot ! which are known by the general name of flu gu, so poisonous that their sale at certain sea sons is prohibited by law but there is strong evidence to show that it is the roe of the fisf 1 and not it's flesh that has the fatal effects to l which several medical men attest