LIBER IX · CAPUT 19
FISHES WHICH HAVE A VOICE.—FISHES WITHOUT GILLS
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Miratur et Arcadia suum exocoetum, appellatum ab eo quod in siccum somni causa exeat. circa Clitorium vocalis hic traditur et sine branchiis, idem aliquis Adonis dictus.
Exeunt in terram et qui marini mures vocantur et polypi et murenae, quin et in Indiae fluminibus certum genus piscium ac deinde resilit. nam in stagna et amnes transeundi plerisque evidens ratio est, ut tutos fetus edant, quia non sint ibi qui devorent partus fluctusque minus saeviant. has intellegi ab iis causas servarique temporum vices magis miretur, si quis reputet quoto cuique hominum nosci uberrimam esse capturam sole transeunte piscium signum.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
Arcadia produces a wonder in its fish called exocœtus, from the fact that it comes ashore to sleep. In the neighbourhood of the river Clitorius, this fish is said to be gifted with powers of speech, and to have no gills; by some writers it is called the adonis.
Those fish, also, which are known by the name of sea-mice, as well as the polypi and the murænæ, are in the habit of coming ashore—besides which, there is in the rivers of India one kind that does this, and then leaps back again into the water—for they are found to pass over into standing waters and streams. Most fishes have an evident instinct, which teaches them where to spawn in safety; as in such places there are no enemies found to devour their young, while at the same time the waves are much less violent. It will be still more a matter of surprise, to find that they thus have an appreciation of cause and effect, and understand the regular recurrence of periods, when we reflect how few persons there are that know that the most favourable time for taking fish is while the sun is passing through the sign of Pisces.