Red mullet
Red mullet | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Perciformes |
Family: | Mullidae |
Genus: | Mullus |
Red mullet species | |
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The red mullets or surmullets are two species of
Classification
Though they can easily be distinguished—M. surmuletus has a striped first dorsal fin—their common names overlap in many of the languages of the region. In English, M. surmuletus is sometimes called the striped red mullet. Despite the English name "red mullet", these fishes of the goatfish family Mullidae are not closely related to many other species called "mullet", which are members of the grey mullet family Mugilidae. The word "surmullet" comes from the French, and ultimately probably from a Germanic root "sor" 'reddish brown'.[1]
Cultural impact
They are both favored delicacies in the Mediterranean, and in antiquity were "one of the most famous and valued fish". They are very similar, and cooked in the same ways. M. surmuletus is perhaps somewhat more prized.
Claudius Aelianus in his On the Nature of Animals, writes that the species is sacred to the Greek agricultural goddess Demeter. "At Eleusis it [the Red Mullet] is held in honour by the initiated, and of this honour two accounts are given. Some say, it is because it gives birth three times in a year; others, because it eats the Sea-Hare, which is deadly to man."[4] The red mullet was also significant in the cult of the witch goddess Hecate.
References
- ISBN 0-14-046174-4
Notes
- American Heritage Dictionary s.v. surmullet
- ^ Davidson, p. 109
- ^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). . Encyclopedia Americana.
- ^ Theoi - Exploring Mythology in Classical Literature & Art: Demeter Estate & Attributes
External links
- James Grout: The Red Mullet and Rome, part of the Encyclopædia Romana