Volume 7, Plate II / Ichthyology (Fish)

Basse, or Sea Perch

Labrax lupus

Tolerably common along southern England in summer and supporting fisheries on the Dutch coast, this fish was prized by the ancients for its flavour and its cunning when ensnared. Its elegant form measures generally ten to twenty inches, occasionally far larger, with chaste grey upper parts shading through bluish reflections to silvery white, grey fins faintly reddish at the pectorals, and clouded spots thought to mark a sexual difference.