[2331] Or “mud-fish,” either from being born in mud, as Festus says, or from their concealing themselves in it.
[2332] “Clidio.” The “clidion,” or “clidium,” was the part of the fish which extended, as Festus says, from the two shoulders (armos) to the breast. The “claviculæ” were thus called by the Greek physicians.
[2333] The Greeks called the inner part, or black-coloured heart of the oak, μέλαν δρυὸς, whence the present name. Athenæus, B. vi. speaks of the choice parts cut from the orcyni, large tunnies, which were taken in the straits of Gades.
[2334] “Faucibus.” Cuvier observes, that modern experience has confirmed what Pliny says, as to the difference of flavour in these various parts of the tunny. He refers to Cetti, Ist. Nat. di Sardegna, vol. iii. p. 137.
[2335] “Exercitatissima.” “In greatest request, as being most stirred and exercised,” is the translation given by Holland; while Littré renders it “mieux nourries,” “best nourished.” According to the general notion in this country, the part about the tail is reckoned inferior, and anything but the “best nourished.” It is doubtful if “exercitatissima” is the correct reading; and if it is, its precise meaning has yet to be ascertained.
[2336] From the Greek ἀπόλεκτοι, “choice bits,” or, as we should say, “tit-bits.”
[2337] From the Greek κύβια.
[2338] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 16.
[2339] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25.
[2340] This fish does not seem to have been exactly identified till recently; but was generally supposed to have been of the tunny genus. Appian says, that it is rather smaller than the tunny. Rondelet, B. viii., speaks of it as being, in his time, known by the name of “byza.” Cuvier has the following remark. “The ‘amia’ of the ancients, as Rondelet was well aware, was the same fish, to which, incorrectly, upon nearly all the coasts of the Mediterranean, the name of ‘pelamis’ has been transferred. It is, in fact, the same as the ‘limosa’ of Salvianus, the ‘pelamis’ of Belon, the ‘thynnus primus’ of Aldrovandus, and the ‘scomber sarda’ of Bloch. The proof of all these being synonymous, is the fact, that the ‘scomber sarda’ is the only species of the tunny genus in the Mediterranean, which has strong, sharp, cutting teeth, and is capable of attacking large fish, which Aristotle relates respecting the amia, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 37. The same author too, was well aware of the length of its gall-bladder, which is greater than in most other fishes.”