NATURE COLUMN: Bill Cawley

“WHY were people called Salmon, Pike, Gudgeon, Whiting, Chubb, Grayling, Roach, Haddock, Spratt, and Bass? But not Tench, Minnow, Eel, Lamprey, Perch, Carp, Huss, Plaice?” – so wrote food critic and wit Jonathan Meades in his autobiography.

Actually, he is not quite correct, there is a Reggae musician named Perch who has the nickname Papa Kojak and James Perch plays football for Mansfield Town.

What Meades’ musings do indicate that there are a number of politicians whose surnames are the names of fish – just witness the spat (or is that spratt?) between Scottish politicians Sturgeon and Salmon(d) and the hapless former minister Grayling.

In the 17th century there was a MP for Sussex called

Captain Haddock – it seems the name was selected by Hergé for his Tintin character.

Bass was an MP for Stafford during Victoria’s reign.

But back to the Perch. It is an interesting fish. It belongs to the order of spinous fined fish.

Percidae is the family name and the species is widely distributed around the world, 10 are found in British waters.

The Common Perch (Perca fluviatile) and the Ruff (Perca flunviatile minor) have the distinguishing feature of a second dorsal fin and serrated gill flaps which can inflict a painful surprise on the unwary. The Saxons represented one of their gods standing with bare feet on the back of a perch ‘as an emblem of patience in adversity and constancy in trial,’ a panegyric that might now represent the British public in times of a pandemic.

The origin of the fish’s name comes from the Greek perkos signifying a dark colour which describes the dark bands on the fish’s back and sides.

The Anglo Saxons gave it the name Bears echoed in the Dutch (boars) and the German (barsch) meaning barred fish.

It is resplendent with colours, both in harmony and constancy.

The dark transverse bars stripping the pale green body, the bright vermillion of the caudal fins, the gold irises of the eyes and the white belly make for a perfect picture.

‘The bright eyed with fins of Tyrian dye’ as it was described by the poet Pope.

It has a reputation as an aggressive fish and quite voracious. The Stafford born writer of the Compleat Angler Izaak Walton thought so and called it ‘bold biting.’

It is a ferocious in its tendency to attack in packs assisted by excellent eyesight lurking among weeds before launching attacks on unsuspecting prey. It is a worthy adversary of the angler.

Perch are the national fish of a country whose names includes a part of a fish’s anatomy- Finland.

That element of independence, tenacity and ability to survive adversity, as illustrated during the Second World War, describes Finns well.