The Family Scorpaenidae and the Gurnards

Now, at last, we leave the order Perciformes and come to a different one, Scorpaeniformes, the order of maily-cheeked fish.

The rascasses (to use the familiar French name) are an important family because three of them, described overleaf, can do something for bouillabaisse which no other fish can do; and for me at least a fine large scarlet rascasse serves as the most apt and memorable symbol of Mediterranean fish generally, and for this reason appeared on the cover of the original version of this book when it was published in Tunis. The three ‘genuine’ rascasses are not matched in British waters (but see the note), and I simply do not know what the position is in North American waters where there are no fewer than six dozen members of the family to be found. Someone would have to experiment with all these species in order to discover which, if any, could claim the properties of their Mediterranean relations; and so far as I can discover this research has not yet been carried out.