The curiosities of food

by P. L. Simmonds

This delicious fish, so easily bred and fed, from its food being the duck weed of the ponds, has a contour plump, round, and massy like the carp of Europe. The colour is a burnished brown, somewhat golden tinted, faintly ruddy, particularly on the head and fins. Vertical bands of bronze stretch obliquely from the back to the belly;—and the ventral fin in its first spine is lengthened into a long thread as long as the entire fish from head to tail. It belongs to a very curious family distinguished as labyrinthan-pharyngeals. The structure of fishes of this family is peculiar:—it consists of the upper surface of the pharyngeal bones being divided into leaves, which form cavities and ledges, more or less complicated, for the retention of water, very much like the web of cells in the paunch of the camel. This apparatus lies immediately under the opercula. It is closely shut in, and pours out a ceaseless stream to moisten the gills and keep them from drying up when the fish quits the water and betakes itself to the grass, either to feed on herbs or to change its domicile when the ponds grow muddy and stagnant.

The ancient writers on Natural History were familiar with the character of these curious pharyngeals. Theophrastus, in his Treatise, speaks of certain of the fishes of India that come forth from the rivers at times, and then return to them again: and he mentions that they resemble mullets. The strange habit of the Anabas, which has received this name from its climbing predilections, (anabaino, ascendo,) is well authenticated. M. Daldorf, a Lieutenant in the service of the Dutch East India Company, in an article in the Linnæan Transactions for 1797, mentions that, in the month of November 1791, he took one of these anabas fishes from the cleft foot-stalk of a palm tree, growing near a pond. The fish was five feet above the water, and was endeavouring to ascend still higher. Another observer, M. John, tells a similar story. The fish, he says, usually remains in the muddy bottom of ponds and lakes; but it will take to creeping on dry ground for several hours, by the inflexion of its body; and by the assistance of its serrated opercula, and the spines of its fins, it will climb on the palm-trees which are in the neighbourhood of ponds, along which drops the water that the rains have accumulated at their tops.—(Griffith’s Supplement to Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom. Fishes, p. 361.)

Though the gourami belongs to the family of fishes, having a reservoir for water to moisten the gills when they quit their ponds, it does not climb trees as the anabas, but only traverses the grass. This fish would be a most desirable acquisition to our colonies. It could be readily procured from Guadaloupe. It is as remarkable for its size as its flavour. It becomes as large as a turbot, and is equally delicious. It would be soon naturalized in our streams. The female hollows a little fosse in the edge of the reservoir in which it is kept, and there deposits its eggs.

The pirarucu (Sudis gigas) is a splendid fish 5 or 6 feet long, with large scales of more than an inch in diameter, and beautifully marked and spotted with red.

The lakes in Brazil contain great quantities of them, and they are salted and dried for the Para market. It is a very fine flavoured fish, the belly in particular being so fat and rich that it cannot be cured, and is therefore generally eaten fresh. ‘This fish’ (remarks Mr. Wallace) ‘with farinha and some coffee made us an excellent supper; and the alligator’s tails which I now tasted for the first time, was by no means to be despised. A smaller kind is that eaten, the flesh being more delicate than in the larger species.’

The sheep’s head, or, in more scientific language, the Sargus ovis, is a favourite fish in North America, where it visits the coasts in large shoals during the summer and autumn. The principal fishery is off the coasts of New York, and thousands are occasionally taken at a single cast of the large nets used at some places. The fish, immediately on their capture, are packed in ice, and sent to the New York market, where they have been known to sell as high as £7 for one of large size, although the usual price for one is only about a dollar. This fish is pretty generally considered throughout the States, both by epicures and others, as an almost sans-pareil; and Dr. Mitchell, who has written much on American ichthyology, is of the same opinion.[26]

The green cavalla (Caranx Bartholomæi) is very good eating, and much in demand. They are caught by the Barbados fishermen, sometimes in nets and in large numbers. Another species, the Jack ‘or John and Goggle-eye,’ as it is locally termed (C. Plumieri), is in some seasons of the year very poisonous. When they are suspected of being so, an experiment is tried upon a duck, by giving her one of them to swallow, and if at that season it is poisonous, the duck dies in about two hours.

The flounder or plaice (Rhombus ocellatus), a fish which belongs to the turbots, is a very delicate fish.

The common flying-fish (Exocœtus Roberti) is so abundant in some seasons of the year about Barbados, that they constitute an important article of food, and during the season, a large number of small boats are occupied in fishing. They are very delicate and tender. Some experiments have been made to preserve them, by salting and smoking, and with perseverance this would probably be successful, and a new dainty be added to European tables. Such large numbers are occasionally caught that they meet with no sale, and are thrown away, or used as manure.[27]

Sprats are a cheap delicacy with the lower classes in this country, and are pretty plentiful at times, but they are also greatly esteemed in the West India Islands. A species, called the ‘yellow-tailed sprat,’ proves unfortunately poisonous at certain periods of the year, chiefly among the Leeward and Virgin Islands.