(14.) There are only two animals without hair that are viviparous, the dolphin and the viper.[2312]
CHAP. 16.—HOW MANY KINDS OF FISH THERE ARE.
There are seventy-four[2313] species of fishes, exclusive of those that are covered with crusts; the kinds of which are thirty in number. We shall, on another occasion,[2314] speak of each individually; but, for the present, we shall treat only of the nature of the more remarkable ones.
CHAP. 17. (15.)—WHICH OF THE FISHES ARE OF THE LARGEST SIZE.
Tunnies are among the most remarkable for their size; we have found one weighing as much as fifteen[2315] talents, the breadth of its tail being five cubits and a palm.[2316] In some of the rivers, also, there are fish of no less size, such, for instance, as the silurus[2317] of the Nile, the isox[2318] of the Rhenus, and the attilus[2319] of the Padus, which, naturally of an inactive nature, sometimes grows so fat as to weigh a thousand pounds, and when taken with a hook, attached to a chain, requires a yoke of oxen to draw it[2320] on land. An extremely small fish, which is known as the clupea,[2321] attaches itself, with a wonderful tenacity, to a certain vein in the throat of the attilus, and destroys it by its bite. The silurus carries devastation with it wherever it goes, attacks every living creature, and often drags beneath the water horses as they swim. It is also remarkable, that in the Mœnus,[2322] a river of Germany, a fish that bears[2323] a very strong resemblance to the sea-pig, requires to be drawn out of the water by a yoke of oxen; and, in the Danube, it is taken with large hooks of iron.[2324] In the Boryrsthenes, also, there is said to be a fish of enormous size, the flesh of which has no bones or spines in it, and is remarkable for its sweetness.
In the Granges, a river of India, there is a fish found which they call the platanista;[2325] it has the muzzle and the tail of the dolphin, and measures sixteen cubits in length. Statius Sebosus says, a thing that is marvellous in no small degree, that in the same river there are fishes[2326] found, called worms; these have two gills,[2327] and are sixty cubits in length; they are of an azure colour, and have received their name from their peculiar conformation. These fish, he says, are of such enormous strength, that with their teeth they seize hold of the trunks of elephants that come to drink, and so drag them into the water.
CHAP. 18.—TUNNIES, CORDYLA, AND PELAMIDES, AND THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THEM THAT ARE SALTED. MELANDRYA, APOLECTI, AND CYBIA.
The male tunny has no ventral fin;[2328] these fish enter the Euxine in large bodies from the main[2329] sea, in the spring, and will spawn nowhere else. The young ones, which in autumn accompany the females to the open sea, are known as “cordyla.”[2330] In the spring they are called “pelamides,”[2331] from πηλὸς, the Greek for “mud,” and after they are a year old, “thynni.” When this fish is cut up into pieces, the neck, the belly, and the throat,[2332] are the most esteemed parts; but they must be eaten only when they are quite fresh, and even then they cause severe fits of flatulence; the other parts; with the flesh entire, are preserved in salt. Those pieces, which bear a resemblance to an oaken board, have thence received the name of “melandrya.”[2333] The least esteemed among these parts are those which are the nearest to the tail, because they have no fat upon them; while those parts are considered the most delicate, which lie nearest the neck;[2334] in other fishes, however, the parts about the tail have the most nutriment[2335] in them. The pelamides are cut up into small sections, known as “apolecti;”[2336] and these again are divided into cubical pieces, which are thence called “cybia.”[2337]
CHAP. 19.—THE AURIAS AND THE SCOMBER.
All kinds of fish grow[2338] with remarkable rapidity, and more especially those in the Euxine; the reason[2339] of which is the vast number of rivers which discharge their fresh water into it. One fish, the growth of which is quite perceptible, day by day, is known as the amia.[2340] This fish, and the pelamides, together with the tunnies,[2341] enter the Euxine in shoals, for the purpose of obtaining a sweeter nutriment, each under the command of its own leader; but first of all the scomber[2342] appears, which is of a sulphureous tint when in the water, but when out of it resembles other fish in colour. The salt-water preserves[2343] of Spain are filled with these last fish, but the tunnies do not consort with them.[2344]