Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and / Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and / Productions, Volume 1

by Sir James Emerson Tennent

1: YARRELL, vol. i. p. 364, quotes the authority of Dr. J. Hunter in his Animal OEconomy, that fish, "after being frozen still retain so much of life as when thawed to resume their vital actions;" and in the same volume (Introd. vol. i. p. xvii.) he relates from JESSE'S Gleanings in Natural History, the story of a gold fish (Cyprinus auratus) which, together with the water in a marble basin, was frozen into one solid lump of ice, yet, on the water being thawed, the fish became as lively as usual Dr. RICHARDSON, in the third vol. of his Fauna Borealis Americana, says the grey sucking carp found in the fur countries of North America, may be frozen and thawed again without being killed in the process.

Hot-water Fishes.—Another incident is striking in connection with the fresh-water fishes of Ceylon. I have mentioned elsewhere the hot springs of Kannea, in the vicinity of Trincomalie, the water in which flows at a temperature varying at different seasons from 85° to 115°. In the stream formed by these wells M. Reynaud found and forwarded to Cuvier two fishes which he took from the water at a time when his thermometer indicated a temperature of 37° Reaumur, equal to 115° of Fahrenheit. The one was an Apogon, the other an Ambassis, and to each, from the heat of its habitat, he assigned the specific name of "Thermalis."[1]

1: CUV. and VAL., vol. iii. p. 363. In addition to the two fishes above named, a loche Cobitis thermalis, and a carp, Nuria thermoicos, were found in the hot-springs of Kannea at a heat 40° Cent., 114° Fahr., and a roach, Leuciscus thermalis, when the thermometer indicated 50° Cent., 122° Fahr.—Ib. xviii. p. 59, xvi. p. 182, xvii. p. 94. Fish have been taken from a hot spring at Pooree when the thermometer stood at 112° Fahr., and as they belonged to a carnivorous genus, they must have found prey living in the same high temperature.—Journ. Asiatic Soc. Beng. vol. vi. p. 465. Fishes have been observed in a hot spring at Manilla which raises the thermometer to 187°, and in another in Barbary, the usual temperature of which is 172°; and Humboidt and Bonpland, when travelling in South America, saw fishes thrown up alive from a volcano, in water that raised the temperature to 210°, being two degrees below the boiling point. PATTERSON'S Zoology. Pt. ii p. 211; YARRELL'S History of British Fishes, vol. i. In. p. xvi.

List of Ceylon Fishes.

I. OSSEOUS.

Acanthopterygii.

• Perca argentea, Bennett.
• Apogon roseipinnis, Cuv. & Val.
  • Zeylonicus, Cuv. & Val.
  • thermalis, Cuv. &Val.
• Ambassis thermalis, Cuv. & Val.
• Serranus biguttatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • Tankervillæ, Benn.
  • lemniscatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • Sonneratii, Cuv. & Val.
  • flavo-ceruleus, Lacep.
  • marginalis, Cuv. & Val.
  • Boelang, Cuv. & Val.
• Serranus faveatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • angularis, Cuv. & Val.
  • punctulatas, Cuv. & Val.
• Diacope decem-lineatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • spilura, Benn.
  • xanthopus, Cuv. & Val.
• Mesoprion annularis, Cuv. & Val.
• Holocentrus orientale, Cuv. & Val.
  • spinifera, Cuv. & Val.
  • argenteus, Cuv. & Val.
• Upeneus tæniopterus, Cuv. & Val.
  • Zeylonicus, Cuv. & Val.
  • Russeli, Cuv. & Val.
  • cinnabarinus, Cuv. & Val.
• Platycephalus punctatus, Cuv. & Val.
• • scaber, Linn.
  • tuberculatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • serratus, Cuv. & Val.
• Pterois volitans, Gm.
  • muricata, Cuv. & Val.
• Diagramma cinerascens, Cuv. & Val.
  • Blochii, Cuv. & Val.
  • poeciloptera, Cuv. & Val.
  • Cuvieri, Benn.
  • Sibbaldi, E. Benn.
• Lobotes crate, Cuv. & Val.
• Scolopsides bimaculatus, Rupp.
• Amphiprion Clarkii, J. Benn.
• Dascyllus aruanus, Cuv. & Val.
• Glyphisodon Rahti, Cuv. & Val.
  • Brownrigii, Benn.
• Sparus Hardwickii, J. Benn.
• Pagrus longifilis, Cuv. & Val.
• Lethrinus opercularis, Cuv. & Val.
  • fasciatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • frænatus, Cuv. & Val.
  • cythrurus, Cuv. & Val.
  • cinereus, Cuv. & Val.
• Smaris balteatus, Cuv. & Val.
• Cæsio coerulaureus, Lacep.
• Gerres oblongus, Cuv. & Val.
• Chætodon vagabundus, Linn.
  • Sebanus, Cuv. & Val.
  • Layardi, Blyth.
  • xanthocephalus, E. Bennett.
  • guttatissimus, E. Benn.
• Hæniochus macrolepidotus, Linn.
• Scatophagus argus, Cuv. & Val.
• Holacanthus xanthurus, E. Benn.
• Platax Raynaldi, Cuv. & Val.
  • ocellatus Cuv. & Val.
  • Ehrenbergii, Cuv. & Val.
• Anabas scandens, Dald.
• Helostoma.
• Polyacanthus.
• Ophicephalus.
• Cybium guttatum, Bloeh.
• Chorinemus moadetta, Ehren.
• Rhynchobdella ocellata, Cuv. & Val.
• Mastocemblus Skinneri, H. Smith.
• Caranx Heberi, J. Benn.
  • speciosus, Forsk.
• Rhombus triocellatus, Cuv. & Val.
• Equula dacer, Cuv. & Val.
  • filigera, Cuv. & Val.
• Amphacanthus javus, Linn.
  • sutor, Cuv. & Val.
• Acanthurus xanthurus, Blyth.
  • triostegus, Bloch.
  • Delisiani, Cuv. & Val.
  • lineatus, Lacep.
  • melas, Cuv. & Val.
• Atherina duodecimalis, Cuv. & Val.
• Blennius.
• Salarias marmoratus, Benn.
  • alticus, Cuv. & Val.
• Eleotris sexguttata, Cuv. & Val.
• Cheironectes hispidus, Cuv. & Val.
• Tautoga fasciata, Bloch.
• Julis lunaris, Linn.
  • decussatus, W. Benn.
  • formosus, Cuv. & Val.
  • quadricolor, Lesson.
  • dorsalis, Quoy & Gaim.
  • aureomaculatus, W. Benn.
  • Ceilanicus, E. Benn.
  • Finlaysoni, Cuv. & Val.
  • purpureo-lineatus, Cuv. & Val.
• Gomphosus fuscus, Cuv. & Val.
  • viridis, W. Benn.
• Scarus pepo, W. Benn.
  • harid, Forsk.

Malacopterygrii (abdominales).

• Silurus.
• Bagrus albilabris, Cuv. & Val.
• Plotosus lineatus, Cuv. & Val.
• Cyprinus.
• Barbus tor, Cuv. & Val.
• Nuria thermoicos, Cuv. & Val.
• Leuciscus Zeylonicus, E. Benn.
  • thermalis, Cuv. & Val.
• Cobitis thermalis, Cuv. & Val.
• Hemirhamphus Reynaldi, Cuv. & Val.
  • Georgii, Cuv. & Val.
• Exocoetus evolans, Linn.
• Sardinella leiogaster, Cuv. & Val.
  • lineolata, Cuv. & Val.
• Saurus myops, Val.