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WEEVER
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WEEVER . The weevers (Trachinus) are small marine fishes which are See also:common on the coasts of See also:Europe, and which have attained notoriety from the painful and sometimes dangerouswounds they are able to inflict upon those who incautiously handle them. They belong to a See also:family of spiny-rayed fishes (Trachinidae), and are distinguished by a See also:long See also:low See also:body with two dorsal fins, the anterior of which is composed of six or seven spines only, the posterior being 'long and many-rayed; their anal resembles in See also:form and See also:composition the second dorsal fin. The ventral fins are placed in advance of the pectorals, and consist of a spine and five rays. The caudal fin has the See also:hind margin not excised. The body is covered with very small scales, sunk in and firmly adherent to the skin, but the upper See also:surface of the See also:head is bony, without integument. The head, like the body, is compressed, with the eyes of moderate See also:size and placed on the See also:side of the head; the mouth is wide, oblique. and armed with bands of very small See also:teeth. Several See also:species of weevers are known, but two only occur on the See also:British coasts, viz., the Greater Weever (Trachinus See also:draco) and the Lesser Weever (T. vipera); the former is frequently found of a length of 12 in., and possesses some See also:thirty rays in the second dorsal fin, whilst the latter grows only to about See also:half that length, and has about ten rays less in the dorsal. The coloration of both is See also:plain, but the See also:short first dorsal fin is always of a deep See also:black See also:colour. The weevers are bottom See also:fish, burying and hiding themselves in the See also:sand or between See also:shingle—the lesser species living See also:close inshore and the greater preferring deeper See also:water, and being found sometimes floating on the surface at a distance of several See also:miles from the See also:shore. Al-though weevers, especially the lesser, are in the See also:habit of burying themselves in the sand, and are abundant in some localities much resorted to by bathers, accidents from stepping upon them are much more rare than from incautiously handling them after See also:capture. They probably make their See also:escape on perceiving the approach of a See also:person. The wounds are inflicted by the dorsal and opercular spines, are very painful, and sometimes cause violent See also:local inflammation. The spines are deeply grooved, and the poisonous fluid which is lodged in the grooves is secreted by small glands at their See also:base. The flesh is not See also:bad eating, and See also:great See also:numbers of the larger species (T. draco) are brought to the See also:Paris See also:market. On the poisonous properties, cf. G. J. See also:Allman, See also:Ann. and Mag. N.H., vi. (1841), p, 161; L. Gressin, Contribution a l'e'tude de l'appareil a venin chez See also:les poissons du genre Vive (Paris, 1884) ; W. N. See also:Parker, Proc. Zool. See also:Soc. (1888), p. 359; C. Phisalix, See also:Bull. See also:Mus. Paris (1899), p. 256; A. Briot, C. R. Soc. Biol., liv. (1902), pp. 1169 and 1199, and lv. (1903), p. 623. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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