[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IT would be an inexcusable neglect to pass this fish unnoticed, not on account of its disputing with the haddock the honour of having been pressed by the fingers of the apostle, nor of its having been trod upon by the gigantic foot of St. Christopher, when he carried on his shoulders a divine burden across an arm of the sea, but for the excellence of its flesh. It has been for some years in such favour with our epicures, that one of them, a comedian of good repute (Quin), used to say that it was worth one’s while to ride down to Plymouth in order to eat John Dorees. The body of this fish presents the shape of a rhomboid, but the sides are much compressed, the mouth is large, and the snout long, composed of several cartilagious plates, which wrap and fold one over another, in order to enable the fish to catch its prey. The colour is a dark green, marked with black spots, with a golden gloss, from whence the name originated. They inhabit the coasts of England, and chiefly the bay of Torbay, whence they are sent to the fish market at London.
