Fishes deposit their eggs close in to shore, the goby close to
stones; and, by the way, the spawn of the goby is flat and crumbly.
Fish in general so deposit their eggs; for the water close in to shore
is warm and is better supplied with food than the outer sea, and
serves as a protection to the spawn against the voracity of the larger
fish. And it is for this reason that in the Euxine most fishes spawn
near the mouth of the river Thermodon, because the locality is
sheltered, genial, and supplied with fresh water.
Oviparous fish as a rule spawn only once a year. The little
phycis or black goby is an exception, as it spawns twice; the male
of the black goby differs from the female as being blacker and
having larger scales.
Fishes then in general produce their young by copulation, and
lay their eggs; but the pipefish, as some call it, when the time of
parturition arrives, bursts in two, and the eggs escape out. For the
fish has a diaphysis or cloven growth under the belly and abdomen
(like the blind snakes), and, after it has spawned by the splitting of
this diaphysis, the sides of the split grow together again.
Development from the egg takes place similarly with fishes that
are oviparous internally and with fishes that are oviparous
externally; that is to say, the embryo comes at the upper end of the
egg and is enveloped in a membrane, and the eyes, large and spherical,
are the first organs visible.
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