SPARUS, GILTHEAD, in natural history; a genus of animals belonging to the class of pisces, and the order of thoracii. The fore-teeth and dog-teeth are very strong; the grinders are obtuse and thick set; the lips are folded over; there are five rays in the pinn membrane; and the opercula are scaly; the body is compressed; the lateral line is crooked behind; and the pectoral fins are roundish.
Gmelin enumerates 39 species, of which only three are found in the British seas, the pagrus, auratus, and dentatus. 1. The pagrus, or sea-bream, is of a reddish colour. The skin forms a sinus at the roots of the dorsal and anal fins. The body is broad; the back and belly ridged. There is only one dorsal fin. 2. The auratus, or gilt-bream. The head and sides of it are gilt, and there is a golden spot between the eyes shaped like a half-moon; there is also a black purple spot on the gills; and it weighs from eight lb. to ten lb. It is one of
of the pisces saxatiles, or fish that haunts deep waters on bold rocky shores. They feed chiefly on shell-fish, which they comminute with their teeth before they swallow; the teeth of this genus in particular being adapted for that purpose: the grinders are flat and strong, like those of certain quadrupeds: besides which there are certain bones in the lower part of the mouth that assist in grinding their food. They are but a coarse fish: they were known to the Romans, who did not esteem them unless they were red with Lucrine oysters, as Martial informs us,
Non omnis laudem pretiumque Aukata meretur,
Sed qui fouit erit combea Lucrina cibus.
Lib. xiii. Ep. 92.
3. The dentator, toothed sea-bream, is black above, and of a silvery appearance below. The eyes and gills are very large. There are nine rows of teeth in the lower jaw, and one in the upper.
In the account of Captain Cook's voyage published by Mr Forster, we are informed, that the gilthead are sometimes poisonous, owing to their feeding on certain species of the roja, which have an extremely acrid and stimulating property.