When an eel is borne on a shield, it is always represented in a wavy form and is usually blazoned "ondoyant"—literally, wavy.
Fig. 48.Fig. 49.
Fish charges almost always come under the head of "canting heraldry,"[1] so that they mostly repeat the name of their bearer, or, at any rate, carry a very direct allusion to it. This is the case with the families of Dolphin, Godolphin, Salmon, Sole (Fig. 48), Herring, Herringham, Bream, Roach, Sprat, Ellis (who bear three eels) and Troutbeck (who have three trouts). These latter are blazoned "fretted in a triangle, tête-à-queue"—literally, "netted head to tail," whilst we are reminded that the old name for pike was luce, when we see pikes borne by the Lucy family. Crabbe of Robslaw bears one crab; the Prawnes, as you would expect, bear prawns; and the Tregarthens of Cornwall have "lobster claws saltire-wise, gules," that last word implying that the luckless owner of those claws had been clearly boiled (Fig. 49)!
[1:] "Canting heraldry" is derived from the French armes chantantes or armes parlantes, meaning, literally, arms that speak.
Fig. 50.
The escallop shell, being pre-eminently the pilgrim badge, was given a very honourable place in heraldry, and occurs in the arms of many of our highest nobility, notably in those of the Dukes of Bedford, Marlborough and Montrose. One branch of the Shelley family bears three escallop shells (Fig. 50), and a lion between escallop shells is a common charge. One William Moffat bears a lion between eight escallop shells.[2]
[2:] Escallop shells are represented in such infinitely varied devices and in so many coats of arms that some lovers of heraldry make this charge a special study.