Volume 37, Plate XVII / Ichthyology (Fish)

Grey Mullet & Atherine, or Sand-Smelt

Mugil capito & Atherina bresbyter

1. The Atherine, or Sand-Smelt. A beautiful little fish, long mistaken for another, superabounding on the southern coast of England and reaching five or six inches, it is silvery white and pale flesh-colour with yellowish white fins and a fine silver side-stripe. Caught abundantly in creeks and estuaries but never above the tide, best in spring when full of milt and roe, it has something of the cucumber flavour of the True Smelt; it takes every bait voraciously, even when heavy with roe.
2. The Grey Mullet. Now distinguished from the cephalus by its short obtuse spinous scale and lack of the eye membrane, this fish usually reaches fifteen inches, sometimes two feet, and is steel-grey above with bluish and yellowy reflexions, silvery white below, with six or eight rosy brown lines on the flanks. Keeping to warm shallow water and ascending rivers, it feeds on soft, fat, or decomposing matter, thrusting its mouth into mud, spawns about midsummer, and improves greatly when kept in fresh water.