BUTTER-FISH.
A native of the tropical parts of the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
Perch are usually termed voracious fish, but when large are extremely shy and difficult of capture. There is a story told of a hungry little lake-perch which had its eye hooked out by accident. The angler, leaving the eye on the hook, lowered it into the water again, and a moment after hauled out a one-eyed perch!
Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt] [Washington.
AMERICAN "SUN-FISH."
Not to be confounded with the true Sun-fishes described in Chapter VII.
Among the species of perch found in British waters are the Ruffe, or Pope, a very small and common river-fish of no great value; the Bass, a fine sporting sea-fish, which comes up the estuaries of rivers to spawn, and is much sought after by the amateur sea-fisher; the Comber, or Gaper, a fairly common fish on the coasts of the West of England; a rare sea-fish known as the Dusky Perch, caught occasionally off the South of England; the Stone-bass, also called the Wreck-fish, from its habit of following wreckage in the sea; and, lastly, the Dentex, a rare species, not often caught off the British coasts, which attains the weight of about 70 lbs.
On the Continent there is the Pike-perch, a fish having the appearance of a cross between a pike and a perch, and growing to 25 or 30 lbs.; this voracious species is found in the lakes and rivers of the temperate northern zones, and is much esteemed for food. In the tropics there are a number of true Sea-perches, which rarely enter fresh-water; they include the Anthias, most beautifully coloured with pink and yellow, of which there are between 100 and 200 species. Some of the tropical sea-perches grow to an enormous size, and there are instances recorded of bathers having been attacked by them at Aden. Several monsters are stuffed in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. Among the coral-islands live many very beautifully coloured sea-perches of various species. Perhaps the most remarkable of all is the Boar-fish, or Bastard Dory, which has a prolonged snout, no doubt used for getting out its food from the crannies among rocks and other awkward places.