Mullet

in Europe, a salt water fish one to two feet long, with the general appearance of a slender perch or bass. It has fleshy lips and naturally lives by working over the mud at the bottom of the water from which it extracts small animals. The mullet was a favorite fish on the tables of Roman epicures. It was common enough, being raised in fish ponds. As high as $200 is said to have been paid by the Romans for an unusually large specimen. The ordinary weight is from six to seven pounds. There are, in all, about seventy world species of mullets. The common silver mullet of the Gulf States is about nine inches in length. It is a swift leaping fish, much in demand by pelicans, darters, and other fish-eating birds. Of American fish it is fourth in commercial value. It is the common fish of Southern markets. The fishermen of Florida work the sounds and brackish waters with seines, taking about 17,000,000 pounds a year.