Fish

Some 250 species of fish have been collected in the seas around Madeira, many of them remarkable for the brilliance of their colours or for the singularity of their form or structure. These species are recorded in the publications of Richard Thomas Lowe and Johnson (see those entries), and in the present work we also mention some of them, such as the alfonsim, the garfish (agulha), the abróteas, the tunas, the bicuda, the bodião, the boga, the boqueirão, the cavala, the castanhetas, the conger, the chicharros, the cherne, the dourada, the espada, the skipjack tuna (gaiado), the garoupa, the goraz, the moray, the pargo, the peixe-carneiro, the peixe-agulha, the peixe-galo, the peixe-verde, the requeime, the salema, the salmonete, the sargo, the tainha, the urjamanta, etc.

The only freshwater fish living in Madeira are the eiró (see that entry) and Cyprinus auratus, but the latter is not found outside the tanks of the island’s cultivated zone.

In 1934 the distinguished men of science Adolfo César de Noronha and Lieutenant-Colonel Alberto Artur Sarmento published, under the title ‘Os Peixes dos Mares da Madeira’, a long and substantial study. It will be consulted with profit by all who wish to know this interesting subject, from whatever point of view it may be considered.