Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

258 THE NINE FISH MOST HIGHLY PRIZEDThe Elops or Helops has been deemed to be the Acipenser,^but this conflicts with Ovid {Hal., 96) — " Et pretiosus elopsnostris incognitus undis"—with Columella (VIII. 16), and withPUny (XXXII. 54).Whatever the Elops, Varro and Epicharmus testify to itsextortionate price,while Pliny lets us know that by many ofthe cognoscenti its flavour was deemed to be the very best of all.The capture of this rare and elusive fish—its usual habitatwas off PamphyUa—became the occasion of great rejoicing ;the crew of the successful boat were crowned with wreaths, andwelcomed by the music of the flute-players. 2 It is noteworthythat the Acipenser does not occur in the pages either of Varroor of Columella, while the Elops does.4. The Rhombus, whether it were R. maximus, the " Turbot,"or R. IcBvis, the " Brill," has been long in dispute.Juvenal describes his celebrated Rhombus with " erectasin terga sudes " (IV. 128)"; erectas " may be conceded tothe licence of a poet as regards the back fin of a Turbot, butnot of a Brill, which is yielding and rather wavy. Then,again, Diphilus declares that its flesh is soft, Xenocrates thatit is firm, and improves with keeping. Now the flesh of theBrill is soft : that of the Turbot much firmer. Rhombus(unmentioned by Aristotle) probably stood for both Turbotand Brill, as well as for the xPtjttci, " which is called by theRomans the Rhombus." ^The fish, which derives its name from its supposed hkenessto the geometrical figure, was in poetry but not in popularity ^more celebrated than that other famous flat fish, the Sole.As a dainty the Sturgeon was in vogue long before the Rhombus,perhaps because, as Horace {Sat., II. 2. 49) suggests, it wasintroduced by a man of fashion :"... Quid ? tunc rhombos minus aequora alebant ?Tutus erat rhombus, tutoque ciconia nido,Donee vos auctor docuit praetorius."1 Athen., VII. 44; and Pliny, IX. 27.2 ^lian, VIII. 28.» Cf. Athenseus, VII 139.* Cf,, however, Alciphron, I. 7, where among presents from fishermen,it takes premier place.