Again, the tunny is out of season in summer, when it
is being preyed on by its own peculiar louse-parasite, but after the
rising of Arcturus, when the parasite has left it, it comes into
season again. A number of fish also are found in sea-estuaries; such
as the saupe, the gilthead, the red mullet, and, in point of fact, the
greater part of the gregarious fishes. The bonito also is found in
such waters, as, for instance, off the coast of Alopeconnesus; and
most species of fishes are found in Lake Bistonis. The coly-mackerel
as a rule does not enter the Euxine, but passes the summer in the
Propontis, where it spawns, and winters in the Aegean. The tunny
proper, the pelamys, and the bonito penetrate into the Euxine in
summer and pass the summer there; as do also the greater part of
such fish as swim in shoals with the currents, or congregate in shoals
together. And most fish congregate in shoals, and shoal-fishes in
all cases have leaders.
Fish penetrate into the Euxine for two reasons, and firstly for
food. For the feeding is more abundant and better in quality owing
to the amount of fresh river-water that discharges into the sea, and
moreover, the large fishes of this inland sea are smaller than the
large fishes of the outer sea.
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