Volume 37, Plate IX / Ichthyology (Fish)

Sea-Bream & Axillary Bream

Pagellus centrodontus & P. acarne

1. The Axillary Bream. This Bream is known from its kin by a dark violet spot at the base of the pectorals, conspicuous even when dried, and by thirty teeth in the first upper row. About thirteen inches long, it is pale silvery red with rose-red dorsal and caudal fins and reddish brown between the eyes, and in the Mediterranean it is in highest perfection in spring and greatly esteemed.
2. The Sea-Bream. Readily known by a large black spot at the origin of the lateral line, appearing only after the first year, this fish carries fine sharp teeth and runs from sixteen to twenty inches or more. Very common in British and Irish seas and most abundant in hot weather, it spawns in early winter in deep water, the young called Chads biting eagerly at any bait and devouring sea-weeds and shellfish.