Mr. Yarrell describes it as not particularly rare on our shores, enumerating the Frith of Clyde, the coast of Argyle, the Frith of Forth, and St. Andrews, as localities in Scotland, where it has been taken; and, in England, Berwick Bay, the mouth of the Tees, the coast of Devon, and that of Cornwall; as well as at Swansea in Wales, and at Belfast in Ireland. It occurs also all along the western shores of Europe, as far north as Norway, and is abundant in the Mediterranean.
Ray’s Sea-Bream attains a length of thirty
inches, and a height, including the fins, of about half as much. The eye is large, with the iris darker than the pupil; the back is very dark blue; the upper part of the head coppery-brown, with a band of blue across the forehead; the sides and belly are silvery, mingled with coppery and lake-pink hues on the upper parts, and marked with irregular dusky stripes on the sides; the dorsal and anal fins, being scaled, shine like burnished silver.
