Grows to a large size, weighing sometimes three hundred pounds, and measuring eight to ten feet in length, and two in breadth. It has a broad, flat, thin head; and the horns, which are on each side of the upper lip, are armed with short crooked spines, like teeth. A remarkable peculiarity in this fish is the dorsal fin, which is close to the head, and is long, stiff, dentated like the horns, and is, no doubt, an instrument of defence. In colour it resembles the eel, and has no scales; only one small fin on the back, and a forked tail; its flesh is esteemed next to that of the eel, and has a similar flavour. This fish is a great depredator, and makes considerable havoc among the smaller inhabitants of the rivers and lakes which it inhabits. It is a native of the fresh waters of Asia. The Danube, and several other rivers of Germany, and the lakes of Switzerland and Bavaria contain numerous specimens of Silurus.
THE FATHER LASHER. (Cottus scorpius.)
The whimsical denomination of Father Lasher, given to this fish, cannot be easily accounted for; perhaps it may be ascribable to the quick and repeated lashings of its tail, when the fish is caught and thrown upon the sand. The length is about eight or nine inches, and it is usually found under stones, on the rocky coasts of our island. In Greenland these fish are so numerous, that the inhabitants depend largely upon them for their food. When made into soup, they are nutritive and wholesome. The head is large, and armed with spines, by which this fish combats every enemy that attacks it, swelling out its cheeks and gill-covers to an unusual size. Its colour is a dull brown, mottled with white, and sometimes mixed with red; the fins and tail are transparent, and the lower part of the body a shining white.