2: ELIAN mentions, amongst the extraordinary marine animals found in the seas around Ceylon, a fish with feet instead of fins; [Greek: poias ge mên chêlas ê pteri gia.]—Lib xvi. c. 18. Does not this drawing of a species of Chironectes, captured near Colombo, justify his description?
But the most striking to the eye of a stranger are those fishes whose brilliancy of colouring has won for them the wonder even of the listless Singhalese. Some, like the Red Sea Perch (Helocentrus ruber, Bennett) and the Great Fire Fish[1], are of the deepest scarlet and flame colour; in others purple predominates, as in the Serranus flavo-cæruleus; in others yellow, as in the Chæetodon Brownriggii[2], and Acanthurus vittatus, Bennett[3], and numbers, from the lustrous green of their scales, have obtained from the natives the appropriate name of Giraway, or parrots, of which one, the Sparus Hardwickii of Bennett, is called the "Flower Parrot," from its exquisite colouring, being barred with irregular bands of blue, crimson, and purple, green, yellow, and grey, and crossed by perpendicular stripes of black.
1: Pterois muricata, Cuv. and Val. iv. 363. Scorpæna miles, Bennett; named, by the Singhalese, "Maha-rata-gini," the Great Red Fire, a very brilliant red species spotted with black. It is very voracious, and is regarded on some parts of the coast as edible, while on others it is rejected. Mr. Bennett has given a drawing of this species, (pl. 9), so well marked by the armature of the head. The French naturalists regard this figure as being only a highly-coloured variety of their species "dont l'éclat est occasionné par la saison de l'amour." It is found in the Red Sea and Bourbon and Penang. Dr. CANTOR calls it Pterois miles, and reports that it preys upon small crustaceæ.—Cat. Malayan Fishes, p. 44.
2: Glyphisodon Brownriggii, Cuv. and Val. v. 484; Chætodon Brownriggii, Bennett. A very small fish about two inches long, called Kaha bartikyha by the natives. It is distinct from Chætodon, in which Mr. Bennett placed it. Numerous species of this genus are scattered throughout the Indian Ocean. It derives its name from the fine hair-like character of its teeth. They are found chiefly among coral reefs, and, though eaten, are not much esteemed. In the French colonies they are called "Chauffe-soleil." One species is found on the shores of the New World (G. saxatilis), and it is curious that Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard found this fish at the Cape de Verde Islands in 1827.
3: This fish has a sharp round spine on the side of the body near the tail; a formidable weapon, which is generally partially concealed within a scabbard-like incision. The fish raises or depresses this spine at pleasure. It is yellow, with several nearly parallel blue stripes on the back and sides; the belly is white, the tail and fins brownish green, edged with blue.
It is found in rocky places; and according to Mr. Bennett, who has figured it in his second plate, it is named Seweya. It is scarce on the southern coast of Ceylon.
Fresh-water Fishes.—Of the fresh-water fish, which inhabit the rivers and tanks, so very little has hitherto been known to naturalists[1], that of nineteen drawings sent home by Major Skinner in 1852, although specimens of well-known genera, Colonel Hamilton Smith pronounced nearly the whole to be new and undescribed species.
1: In extenuation of the little that is known of the fresh-water fishes of Ceylon, it may be observed that very few of them are used at table by Europeans, and there is therefore no stimulus on the part of the natives to catch them. The burbot and grey mullet are occasionally eaten, but they taste of mud, and are not in request.
Of eight of these, which were from the Mahawelli-ganga, and caught in the vicinity of Kandy, five were carps[1], of which two were Leucisci, and one a Mastacemblus, to which Col. H. Smith has given the name of its discoverer, M. Skinneri[2], one was an Ophicephalus, and one a Polyacanthus, with no serræ on the gills. Six were from the Kalany-ganga, close to Colombo, of which two were Helastoma, in shape approaching the Choetodon; two Ophicephali, one a Silurus, and one an Anabas, but the gills were without denticulation. From the still water of the lake, close to the walls of Colombo, there were two species of Eleotris, one Silurus with barbels, and two Malacopterygians, which appear to be Bagri.
1: Of the fresh-water fishes belonging to the family Cyprinidæ, there are about eighteen species from Ceylon in the collection of the British Museum.