This section is from the book "A Manual Of British Vertebrate Animals", by Leonard Jenyns. Also available from Amazon: A Manual Of British Vertebrate Animals.
* Body marked with fine transverse thread-like ridges.
Transverse lines not reaching below the middle of the sides: lateral line smooth: profile oblique.
* According to Mr. Couch, there is one yellow line, a little below the lateral line.
T. Pini, Block, Ichth. pl. 356. T. lineata, Mont, in Wern. Mem. vol. ii. p. 460. Flem. Brit. An. p. 215. Pine-leaved Gurnard, Shaw, Nat. Misc. vol. xxn. pl. 954. Red Gurnard, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 34. Grondin rouge, ou Rouget comraun, Cuv. et Val. Poiss. torn. iv. p. 20. Cuv. Reg. An. torn. ii. p. 159.
From twelve to sixteen inches.
(Form). Head large; body tapering from the nape to the base of the caudal: greatest depth contained six times and a half in the entire length; length of the head contained four times; thickness three-fourths of the depth: profile falling obliquely, and making with the cranium an angle of one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty degrees; the descending line slightly concave: sides of the head flat and nearly vertical; space between the eyes contracted and concave: cheeks and upper part of the head rough with granulations disposed in lines radiating from different centres: extremity of the snout slightly emarginated, with three or four blunt denticulations on each side: above the anterior angle of the eye two or three short spines: supra-sca-pulars ending in a sharp point, of a semi-elliptic form, with the inner margin denticulated: opercle with two short spines, not extending beyond the membrane; the upper one directed obliquely upwards, the lower one backwards: clavicle likewise terminating in a short, but sharp, point: lateral line straight, slender, bifurcating at the caudal extremity, and almost perfectly smooth, as is the rest of the body, with the exception of the dorsal ridges, which are deeply and strongly serrated: upper part of the sides marked with a number of transverse parallel lines, intersecting the lateral line nearly at right angles, and reaching as far below as above it: both dorsals placed in a groove; the first commencing above the supra-scapulars, of a triangular form, with the first ray serrated; second ray longer and stouter than the others, equalling the depth of the body at this point: second dorsal a very little behind the first, scarcely more than half as high, but twice as long: anal answering to the second dorsal, but commencing a little further backward: caudal slightly forked: pectorals equalling one-fourth of the whole length, reaching a little beyond the vent; first seven rays branched, gradually decreasing; the rest simple: ventrals somewhat shorter than the pectorals; the spinous ray half as long as the soft ones, which are all branched:
B. 7; D. 9 - 18; A. 17; C. 11, and some short ones; P. 11, & 3 free; V. 1/5.
Number of vertebrae thirty-six or thirty-seven. (Colours). The whole body, fins included, rose-red; the under parts somewhat paler: occasionally the red is more or less clouded with brown and cinereous.
Very abundant on the southern and western coasts, and generally known by the name of the Red Gurnard. Is considered by many authors as the T. Cuculus of Linnaeus, but since the characters in the Systerna Natures apply equally well to two species, this must remain doubtful. Feeds principally on crustaceous animals. Spawns in May or June.
 
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