The female tunny
breeds only once a year, but owing to the fact that the fish in some
cases spawn early and in others late, it looks as though the fish bred
twice over. The first spawning takes place in December before the
solstice, and the latter spawning in the spring. The male tunny
differs from the female in being unprovided with the fin beneath the
belly which is called aphareus.
10
Of cartilaginous fishes, the rhina or angelfish is the only one
that breeds twice; for it breeds at the beginning of autumn, and at
the setting of the Pleiads: and, of the two seasons, it is in better
condition in the autumn. It engenders at a birth seven or eight young.
Certain of the dog-fishes, for example the spotted dog, seem to
breed twice a month, and this results from the circumstance that the
eggs do not all reach maturity at the same time.
Some fishes breed at all seasons, as the muraena. This animal
lays a great number of eggs at a time; and the young when hatched
are very small but grow with great rapidity, like the young of the
hippurus, for these fishes from being diminutive at the outset grow
with exceptional rapidity to an exceptional size.
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