Kitap 7
81
Pherecrates also uses the word in its diminutive form, in his Forgetful Man, where he says— Being with your κορακινίδια and μαινίδια. And Amphis says, in his Ialemus— Whoever eats a sea-born coracinus When he may have a grayling, is a fool. But the coracini of the Nile are very sweet and delicious in their flesh, as those who have tried them know; and they have got their name from continually moving their eyes (διὰ τὸ τὰς κόρας κινεῖν), and never ceasing. But the Alexandrians call them plataces, which is, more correctly speaking, the name of the whole genus.
82
There is also a fish called the cyprinus, or carp. He also, as Aristotle tells us, is a carnivorous and gregarious fish; and he has his tongue, not in the lower part of the mouth, but in the upper part. But Dorion, mentioning him in his list among the lake and river fish, writes thus: A scaly fish, whom some people call the cyprinus.
83
There is also the tench. The tench is very juicy, as Icesius says, exceedingly attractive to the palate, very easily secreted, not very nutritious, nor is the juice which they give very wholesome. But, in delicacy of flavour, the white kind is superior to the black. But the flesh of the green tench is more dry, and devoid of fat; and they give a much smaller quantity of juice, and what they do give is thinner. Still they are more nutritious, on account of their size. Diodes says that those which are found in rocky situations are very tender. But Numenius, in his treatise on Fishing, calls them, not κώβιοι, but κῶθοι. A char or tench (κῶθος) of mighty size and bold.
