Ceratophora, Otocryptis, Uropeltis, Aspidura. Cercaspis, and Haplocercus
would appear to be similarly restricted);--Lygosoma fallax; Trimesurus
Ceylonensis, T. nigromarginatus; Megæra Trigonocephala; Trigonocephalus
hypnalis; Daboia elegans; Rhinophis punctatus, Rh. homolepis, Rh.
planiceps, Rh. Blythii, Rh. melanogaster; Uropeltis grandis; Silybura
Ceylonica; Cylindrophis maculata; Aspidura brachyorrhos; Haplocercus
Ceylonensis; Oligodon sublineatus; Cynophis Helena; Cyclophis calamaria;
Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis; Cercaspis carinata; Ixalus variabilis, I.
leucorhinus, I. poecilopleurus; Polypedates microtympanum. P. eques.
CHAP. X.
FISHES.
Hitherto no branch of the zoology of Ceylon has been so imperfectly
investigated as its Ichthyology. Little has been done in the examination
and description of its fishes, especially those which frequent the
rivers and inland waters. Mr. BENNETT, who was for some years employed
in the Civil Service, directed his attention to the subject, and
published in 1830 some portions of a projected work on the marine fishes
of the island[1], but it never proceeded beyond the description of
thirty individuals. The great work of Cuvier and Valenciennes[2]
particularises about one hundred species, specimens of which were
procured from Ceylon by Reynard, Leschenault and other correspondents;
but of these not more than half a dozen belong to fresh water.
[Footnote 1: _A Selection of the most Remarkable and Interesting Fishes
found on the Coast of Ceylon._ By J.W. BENNETT, Esp. London, 1830.]
[Footnote 2: _Histoire Naturelle des Poissons._]
The fishes of the coast, as far as they have been examined, present few
that are not in all probability common to the seas of Ceylon and India.
A series of drawings, including upwards of six hundred species and
varieties of Ceylon fish, all made from recently-captured specimens,
have been submitted to Professor Huxley, and a notice of their general
characteristics forms an interesting appendix to the present chapter.[1]
[Footnote 1: See note B appended to this chapter.]
Of those in ordinary use for the table the finest by far is the
Seir-fish[1], a species of Scomberoids, which is called _Tora-malu_ by
the natives. It is in size and form very similar to the salmon, to which
the flesh of the female fish, notwithstanding its white colour, bears a
very close resemblance both in firmness and flavour.
[Footnote 1: _Cybium_ (_Scomber_, Linn.) _guttatum_.]
Mackerel, carp, whitings, mullet both red and striped, perches and soles
are abundant, and a sardine (_Sardinella Neohowii_, Val.) frequents the
southern and eastern coast in such profusion that in one instance in
1839, a gentleman who was present saw upwards of four hundred thousand
taken in a haul of the nets in the little bay of Goyapanna, east of
Point-de-Galle. As this vast shoal approached the shore the broken water
became as smooth as if a sheet of ice had been floating below the
surface.[1]
[Footnote 1: These facts serve to explain the story told by the friar
ODORIC of Friuli, who visited Ceylon about the year 1320 A.D., and says
there are "fishes in those seas that come swimming towards the said
country in such abundance that for a great distance into the sea nothing
can be seen but the backs of fishes, which casting themselves on the
shore, do suffer men for the space of three daies to come and to take as
many of them as they please, and then they return again into the
sea."--_Hakluyt_, vol. ii. p. 57.]
_Poisonous Fishes._--The sardine has the reputation of being poisonous
at certain seasons, and accidents ascribed to eating it are recorded in
all parts of the island. Whole families of fishermen who have partaken
of it have died. Twelve persons in the jail of Chilaw were thus
poisoned, about the year 1829; and the deaths of soldiers have
repeatedly been ascribed to the same cause. It is difficult in such
instances to say with certainty whether the fish were in fault; whether
there was not a peculiar susceptibility in the condition of the
recipients; or whether the mischief may not have been occasioned by the
wilful administration of poison, or its accidental occurrence in the
brass cooking vessels used by the natives. The popular belief was,
however, deferred to by an order passed by the Governor in Council in
February, 1824, which, after reciting that "Whereas it appears by
information conveyed to the Government that at three several periods at
Trincomalie, death has been the consequence to several persons from
eating the fish called Sardinia during the months of January and
December," enacts that it shall not be lawful in that district to catch
sardines during these months, under pain of fine and imprisonment. This
order is still in force, but the fishing continues notwithstanding.[1]
[Footnote 1: There are other species of Sardine found at Ceylon besides
the _S. Neohowii_; such as the _S. lineolata_, Cuv. and Val. and the _S.
leiogaster_, Cuv. and Val. xx. 270, which was found by M. Reynaud at
Trincomalie. It occurs also off the coast of Java. Another Ceylon fish
of the same group, a Clupea, is known as the "poisonous sprat;" the
bonito (_Thynnus affinis_, Cang.), the kangewena, or unicorn fish
(_Balistes?_), and a number of others, are more or less in bad repute
from the same imputation.]
_Sharks._--Sharks appear on all parts of the coast, and instances
continually occur of persons being seized by them whilst bathing even in
the harbours of Trincomalie and Colombo. In the Gulf of Manaar they are
taken for the sake of their oil, of which they yield such a quantity
that "shark's oil" is a recognised export. A trade also exists in drying
their fins, for which, owing to the gelatine contained in them, a ready
market is found in China; whither the skin of the basking shark is also
sent, to be converted, it is said, into shagreen.
_Saw Fish._--The huge _Pristis antiquorum_[1] infests the eastern coast
of the island, where it attains a length of from twelve to fifteen feet,
including the serrated rostrum from which its name is derived. This
powerful weapon seems designed to compensate for the inadequacy of the
ordinary maxillary teeth which are unusually small, obtuse, and
insufficient to capture and kill the animals which form the food of this
predatory shark. To remedy this, the fore part of the head and its
cartilages are prolonged into a flattened plate, the length of which is
nearly equal to one third of the whole body, its edges being armed with
formidable teeth, that are never shed or renewed, but increase in size
with the growth of the creature.
[Footnote 1: Two other species are found in the Ceylon waters, _P.
cuspidatus_ and _P. pectinatus_.]
[Illustration: HEAD OF THE SAWFISH (PRISTIS ANTIQUORUM)]
The _Rays_ form a large tribe of cartilaginous fishes in which, although
the skeleton is not osseous, the development of organs is so advanced
that they would appear to be the highest of the class, approaching
nearest to amphibians. They are easily distinguished from the sharks by
their broad and flat body, the pectoral fins being expanded like wings
on each side of the trunk. They are all inhabitants of the ocean, and
some grow to a prodigious size. Specimens have been caught of twenty
feet in breadth. These, however, are of rare occurrence, as such huge
monsters usually retreat into the depths of the sea, where they are
secure from the molestation of man. It is, generally speaking, only the
young and the smaller species that approach the coasts, where they find
a greater supply of those marine animals which form their food. The Rays
have been divided into several generic groups, and the one of which a
drawing (_Aëtobates narinari_[1]) is given, has very marked
characteristics in its produced snout, pointed and winged-like pectoral
fins, and exceedingly long, flagelliform tail. The latter is armed with
a strong, serrated spine, which is always broken off by the fishermen
immediately on capture, under the impression that wounds inflicted by it
are poisonous. Their fears, however, are utterly groundless, as the ray
has no gland for secreting any venomous fluid. The apprehension may,
however, have originated in the fact that a lacerated wound such as
would be produced by a serrated spine, is not unlikely to assume a
serious character, under the influence of a tropical climate. The
species figured on the last page is brownish-olive on the upper surface,
with numerous greenish-white round spots, darkening towards the edges.
The anterior annulations of the tail are black and white, the posterior
entirely black. Its mouth is transverse and paved with a band of
flattened teeth calculated to crush the hard shells of the animals on
which it feeds. It moves slowly along the bottom in search of its food,
which consists of crustacea and mollusca, and seems to be unable to
catch fishes or other quickly moving animals. Specimens have been taken
near Ceylon, of six feet in width. Like most deep-sea fishes, the ray
has a wide geographical range, and occurs not only in all the Indian
Ocean, but also in the tropical tracts of the Atlantic.
[Illustration: THE RAY (AËTOBATES NARINARI).]
[Footnote 1: _Raja narinari_, Bl. Schn. p. 361. _Aëtobates narinari_,
Müll. und Henle., Plagiost. p. 179.]
Another armed fish, renowned since the times of Ælian and Pliny for its
courage in attacking the whale, and even a ship, is the sword-fish
(_Xiphias gladius_).[1] Like the thunny and bonito, it is an inhabitant
of the deeper seas, and, though known in the Mediterranean, is chiefly
confined to the tropics. The dangerous weapon with which nature has
equipped it is formed by the prolongation and intertexture of the bones
of the upper jaw into an exceedingly compact cylindrical protuberance,
somewhat flattened at the base, but tapering to a sharp point. In
strange inconsistence with its possession of so formidable an armature,
the general disposition of the sword-fish is represented to be gentle
and inoffensive; and although the fact of its assaults upon the whale
has been incontestably established, yet the motive for such conflicts,
and the causes of its enmity, are beyond conjecture. Competition for
food is out of the question, as the Xiphias can find its own supplies
without rivalry on the part of its gigantic antagonist; and as to
converting the whale itself into food, the sword-fish, from the
construction of its mouth and the small size of its teeth, is quite
incapable of feeding on animals of such dimensions.
[Footnote 1: ÆLIAN tells a story of a ship in the Black Sea, the bottom
of which was penetrated by the sword of a _Xiphias_ (L. xiv. c. 23); and
PLINY (L. xxxii. c. 8) speaks of a similar accident on the coast of
Mauritania. In the British Museum there is a specimen of a plank of oak,
pierced by a sword-fish, and still retaining the broken weapon.]
In the seas around Ceylon sword-fishes sometimes attain to the length of
twenty feet, and are distinguished by the unusual height of the dorsal
fin. Those both of the Atlantic and Mediterranean possess this fin in
its full proportions, only during the earlier stages of their growth.
Its dimensions even then are much smaller than in the Indian species;
and it is a curious fact that it gradually decreases as the fish
approaches to maturity; whereas in the seas around Ceylon, it retains
its full size throughout the entire period of life. They raise it above
the water, whilst dashing along the surface in their rapid course; and
there is no reason to doubt that it occasionally acts as a sail.
The Indian species (which are provided with two long and filamentous
ventral fins) have been formed into the genus _Histiophorus_; to which
belongs the individual figured on the next page. It is distinguished
from others most closely allied to it, by having the immense dorsal fin
of one uniform dark violet colour; whilst in its congeners, it is
spotted with blue. The fish from which the engraving has been made, was
procured by Dr. Templeton, near Colombo. The species was previously
known only by a single specimen captured in the Red Sea, by Rüppell, who
conferred upon it the specific designation of "_immaculatus_."[1]
[Footnote 1: Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 71. Pl. 15.]
[Illustration: THE SWORD FISH (MISMOPHORUS IMMACULATUS).]
Ælian, in his graphic account of the strange forms presented by the
fishes inhabiting the seas around Ceylon, says that one in particular is
so grotesque in its configuration, that no painter would venture to
depict it; its main peculiarity being that it has feet or claws rather
than fins.[1] The annexed drawing[2] may probably represent the creature
to which the informants of Ælian referred. It is a cheironectes; one of
a group in which the bones of the carpus form arms that support the
pectoral fins, and enable these fishes to walk along the moist ground,
almost like quadrupeds.
[Footnote 1: [Greek: Podas ge mên chêlas ê pterygia.]--Lib. xvi. c. 18.]
[Footnote 2: The fish from which this drawing of the _Cheironectes_ was
made, was taken near Colombo, and from the peculiarities which it
presents it is in all probability a new and undescribed species. Dr.
GÜNTHER has remarked, that in it, whilst the first and second dorsal
spines are situated as usual over the eye (and form, one the angling
bait of the fish, the other the crest above the nose), the third is at
an unusual distance from the second, and is not separated, as in the
other species, from the soft fin by a notch.]
They belong to the family of _Lophiads_ or "anglers," not unfrequent on
the English coast; which conceal themselves in the mud, displaying only
the erectile ray, situated on the head, which bears an excrescence on
its extremity resembling a worm; by agitating which, they attract the
smaller fishes, that thus become an easy prey.
[Illustration: CHEIRONECTES]
On the rocks in Ceylon which are washed by the surf there are quantities
of the curious little fish, _Salarius alticus_[1], which possesses the
faculty of darting along the surface of the water, and running up the
wet stones, with the utmost ease and rapidity. By aid of the pectoral
and ventral fins and gill-cases, they move across the damp sand, ascend
the roots of the mangroves, and climb up the smooth face of the rocks in
search of flies; adhering so securely as not to be detached by repeated
assaults of the waves. These little creatures are so nimble, that it is
almost impossible to lay hold of them, as they scramble to the edge, and
plunge into the sea on the slightest attempt to molest them. They are
from three to four inches in length, and of a dark brown colour, almost
undistinguishable from the rocks they frequent.
[Footnote 1: Cuv. and VALEN., _Hist. Nat. des Poissons_, tom. xi. p.
249. It is identical with _S. tridactylus,_ Schn.]
But the most striking to the eye of a stranger are those fishes whose
brilliancy of colouring has won for them the wonder even of the listless
Singhalese. Some, like the Red Sea Perch (_Holocentrum rubrum_, Forsk)
and the Great Fire Fish[1], are of the deepest scarlet and flame colour;
in others purple predominates, as in the _Serranus flavo-cæruleus_; in
others yellow, as in the _Choetodon Brownriggii_[2], and _Acanthurus
vittatus_, of Bennett[3], and numbers, from the lustrous green of their
scales, have obtained from the natives the appropriate name of
_Giraway_, or _parrots_, of which one, the _Sparus Hardwickii_ of
Bennett, is called the "Flower Parrot," from its exquisite colouring,
being barred with irregular bands of blue, crimson, and purple, green,
yellow, and grey, and crossed by perpendicular stripes of black.
[Footnote 1: _Pterois muricata_, Cuv. and Val. iv. 363. _Scarpæna
miles_, Bennett; named, by the Singhalese, "_Maharata-gini_," the Great
Red Fire, a very brilliant red species spotted with black. It is very
voracious, and is regarded on some parts of the coast as edible, while
on others it is rejected.]
[Footnote 2: _Glyphisodon Brownriggii_, Cuv. and Val. v. 484; _Choetodon
Brownriggii_, Bennett. A very small fish about two inches long, called
_Kaha hartikyha_ by the natives. It is distinct from Choetodon, in which
BENNETT placed it. Numerous species of this genus are scattered
throughout the Indian Ocean. It derives its name from the fine hair-like
character of its teeth. They are found chiefly among coral reefs, and,
though eaten, are not much esteemed. In the French colonies they are
called "Chauffe-soleil." One species is found on the shores of the New
World (_G. saxatalis_), and it is curious that Messrs. QUOY and GAIMARD
found this fish at the Cape de Verde Islands in 1827.]
[Footnote 3: This fish has a sharp round spine on the side of the body
near the tail; a formidable weapon, which is generally partially
concealed within a scabbard-like incision. It raises or depresses this
spine at pleasure. The fish is yellow, with several nearly parallel blue
stripes on the back and sides; the belly is white, the tail and fins
brownish green, edged with blue.
It is found in rocky places; and according to BENNETT, who has figured
it in his second plate, it is named _Seweya_. It has been known,
however, to all the old ichthyologists, Valentyn, Renard, Seba, Artedi,
and has been named _Chætodon lineatus_, by Linné. It is scarce on the
southern coast of Ceylon.]
Of these richly coloured fishes the most familiar in the Indian seas are
the _Pteroids_. They are well known on the coast of Africa, and thence
eastward to Polynesia; but they do not extend to the west coast of
America, and are utterly absent from the Atlantic. The rays of the
dorsal and pectoral fins are so elongated, that when specimens were
first brought to Europe it was conjectured that these fishes have the
faculty of flight, and hence the specific name of "_volitans_" But this
is an error, for, owing to the deep incisions between the pectoral rays,
the pteroids are wholly unable to sustain themselves in the air. They
are not even bold swimmers, living close to the shore and never
venturing into the deep sea. Their head is ornamented with a number of
filaments and cutaneous appendages, of which one over each eye and
another at the angles of the mouth are the most conspicuous. Sharp
spines project on the crown and on the side of the gill-apparatus, as in
the other sea-perches, _Scorpæna, Serranus_, &c., of which these are
only a modified and ornate form. The extraordinary expansion of their
fins is not, however, accompanied by a similar development of the bones
to which they are attached, simply because they appear to have no
peculiar function, as in flying fishes, or in those where the spines of
the fins are weapons of offence. They attain to the length of twelve
inches, and to a weight of about two pounds; they live on small marine
animals, and by the Singhalese the flesh (of some at least) is
considered good for table. Nine or ten species are known to occur in the
East Indian Seas, and of these the one figured above is, perhaps, the
most common.
[Illustration: PTEROIS VOLITANS.]
Another species known to occur on the coasts of Ceylon is the _Scorpæna
miles_, Bennett, or _Pterois miles_, Günther[1], of which Bennett has
given a figure[2], but it is not altogether correct in some particulars.
[Footnote 1: The fish from the Sea of Pinang, described by Dr. CANTOR
with this name (Catal. Mal. Fish. p. 42), is again different, and
belongs to a third species.]
[Footnote 2: _Fishes of Ceylon_, Pl. ix.]
In the fishes of Ceylon, however, beauty is not confined to the
brilliancy of their tints. In some, as in the _/Scarus harid_, Forsk[1],
the arrangement of the scales is so graceful, and the effect is so
heightened by modifications of colour, as to present the appearance of
tessellation, or mosaic work.
[Footnote 1: This is the fish figured by BENNETT as _Sparus pepo_.
_Fishes of Ceylon_, Plate xxviii.]
[Illustration: SCARUS HARID. After Bennett.]
_Fresh-water Fishes_.--Of the fresh-water fish, which inhabit the rivers
and tanks, so very little has hitherto been known to naturalists[1],
that of nineteen drawings sent home by Major Skinner in 1852, although
specimens of well-known genera, Colonel Hamilton Smith pronounced nearly
the whole to be new and undescribed species.
[Footnote 1: In extenuation of the little that is known of the
fresh-water fishes of Ceylon, it may be observed that very few of them
are used at table by Europeans, and there is therefore no stimulus on
the part of the natives to catch them. The burbot and grey mullet are
occasionally eaten, but they taste of mud, and are not in request.
Some years ago the experiment was made, with success, of introducing
into Mauritius the _Osphromenus olfax_ of Java, which has also been
taken to French Guiana. In both places it is now highly esteemed as a
fish for table. As it belongs to a family which possesses the faculty,
hereafter alluded to, of surviving in the damp soil after the subsidence
of the water in the tanks and rivers, it might with equal advantage be
acclimated in Ceylon. It grows to 20 lbs. weight and upwards.]
Of eight of these, which were from the Mahawelliganga, and caught in the
vicinity of Kandy, five were carps; two were _Leucisci_, and one a
_Mastacembelus_ (_M. armatus_, Lacep); one was an _Ophiocephalus_, and
one a _Polyacanthus_, with no serræ on the gills. Six were from the
Kalanyganga, close to Colombo, of which two were _Helostoma_, in shape
approaching the Chætodon; two _Ophiocephali_, one a _Silurus_, and one
an _Anabas_, but the gills were without denticulation. From the still
water of the lake, close to the walls of Colombo, there were two species
of _Eleotris_, one _Silurus_ with barbels, and two _Malacopterygians_,
which appear to be _Bagri_.
The _fresh-water Perches_ of Europe and of the North of America are
represented in Ceylon and India by several genera, which bear to them a
great external similarity (_Lates, Therapon_). They have the same habits
as their European allies, and their flesh is considered equally
wholesome, but they appear to enter salt-water, or at least brackish
water, more freely. It is, however, in their internal organisation that
they differ most from the perches of Europe; their skeletons are
composed of fewer vertebræ, and the air bladder of the _Therapon_ is
divided into two portions, as in the carps. Four species at least of
this genus inhabit the lakes and rivers of Ceylon, and one of them, of
which a figure is given above, has been but imperfectly described in any
ichthyological work[1]; it attains to the length of seven inches.
[Footnote 1: Holocentrus quadrilineatus, _Bloch_. It is allied to
_Helotes polytoenia_, Bleek., from Halmaheira which it can be readily
distinguished by having only five or six blackish longitudinal bands,
the black humeral spot being between the first and second; another
blackish blotch is in the spinous dorsal fin. There are two specimens in
the British Museum collection, one of which has recently arrived from
Amoy; of the other the locality is unknown. See GÜNTHER, _Acanthopt.
Fishes_, vol. i. p. 282, where mention of the black humeral spot has
been omitted.]
[Illustration: THERAPON QUADRILINEATUS.]
In addition to marine eels, in which the Indian coasts abound, Ceylon
has some true fresh-water eels, which never enter the sea. These are
known to the natives under the name of _Theliya_, and to naturalists by
that of _Mastacembelus_. They have sometimes in ichthyological systems
been referred to the Scombridæ and other marine families, from the
circumstance that the dorsal fin anteriorly is composed of spines. But,
in addition to the general shape of the body, their affinity to the eel
is attested, by their confluent fins, by the absence of ventral fins, by
the structure of the mouth and its dentition, by the apparatus of the
gills, which opens with an inferior slit, and above all by the formation
of the skeleton itself.[1]
[Footnote 1: See GÜNTHER'S _Acanthopt. Fishes_, vol. iii. (Family
Mastacembelidæ).]