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Then again we have heard Aristotimus relating how
the land hedge-hog had a perception of the rising of the
wind, and praising the trigonal flight of cranes. But for
my part, I produce no particular hedge-hog of Cyzicus or
Byzantium, but all the sea hedge-hogs in general; who,
when they perceive a storm coming, ballast themselves with
little stones, lest they should be overturned by reason of
their lightness or carried away by the rolling of the waves,
which they prevent by the weight of their little stones.
On the other side, the cranes' order in their flight against
the wind is not of one sort. But this is a general notion
among all fish, that they always swim against the waves and
the tide, and always take care lest the wind being in their
tails should force their fins from their backs, and leave
their naked bodies exposed to the cold and other inconveniences; and therefore they still oppose the prows of
their bodies against the waves. For that while they thus
cleave the waves at the top, the sea keeps their fins close,
and lightly flowing over the superficies of their bodies, becomes less burdensome, besides that it suffers not their
scales to rise.
This, I say, is common to all fish, except that fish which
is called ellops; which, as they report, always swims with
the wind and tide, not minding the erection or opening of
the scales, which do not lie towards the tail, as in other
fish.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.
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