THE SMELT, OR SPARLING. (Osmerus eperlanus.)
This fish is in length about eight or nine inches, and nearly one in breadth; the body is of a light olive green, inclining to silver white. The smell, when the fish is fresh and raw, is not unlike that of ripe cucumbers, but it goes off in the frying-pan, and the Smelt then yields a tender and most delicious food. Smelts are sea-fish, and inhabit the sea-coast and harbours; but they are often taken in the Thames, the Medway, and other large rivers, which they ascend in the spawning season. The skin of this fish is so transparent, that with the help of a microscope, its blood may be seen to circulate.
Smelts are found on the coasts of all the northern countries of Europe, and also in the Mediterranean. They vary considerably in size. Mr. Pennant states that the largest he had ever heard of measured thirteen inches in length, and weighed half a pound.
THE PIKE. (Esox lucius.)
The body of this fish is a pale olive-grey, deepest on the back, and marked on the sides by several yellowish spots or patches; the abdomen white, slightly spotted with black; its length is from one to eight feet, and its weight from one or two to forty or fifty pounds. The flesh is white and firm, and considered very wholesome; the larger and older it is, the more it is esteemed. There is scarcely any fish of its size in the world that in voracity can equal the Pike.[A] It lives in rivers, lakes, and ponds; and in a confined piece of water will soon destroy all other fish, as it generally does not feed upon anything else, and often swallows one nearly as big as itself; for through its greediness in eating, it takes the head foremost, and so draws it in by little and little at a time, till it has swallowed the whole. A gudgeon of good size has been found in the stomach of a large Pike, the head of which had already received clear marks of the power of digestion, whilst the rest of the fish was still fresh and unimpaired.