1. Some fish are gregarious and friendly together, others that are less
gregarious are hostile. Some are gregarious while they are pregnant,
others during the season of parturition. On the whole, the following
are gregarious: the tunny, mœnis, cobius, box, saurus, coracinus,
sinodon, trigla, muræena, anthia, eleginus, atherinus, sarginus,
belona, (mecon,) teuthus, iulus, pelamis, scombrus, and colias. Some
of these are both gregarious, and live in pairs, for all the others
pair together; and some are gregarious at particular seasons, as it
has been said, while they are pregnant, and others in the season of
depositing their ova.
2. The labrax and cestreus, though most hostile, will at certain
seasons congregate with each other, for not only do congeners
congregate together, but all those which feed upon the same kind of
food, where it is abundant. The cestreus and the conger often survive
after having been deprived of their tail up to the anus, for the
cestreus is eaten by the labrax, and the conger by the muræna. The
stronger are hostile to the weaker, for the strong fish eat the others.
This much concerning marine creatures.