Also 7 sir-. [ad. F. surmulet.] The red mullet; a name comprising species of Mullus, esp. M. surmuletus, the Striped Surmullet, red with three longitudinal yellow stripes, highly prized from ancient times as a food-fish, and M. barbatus, the Plain Surmullet, of a plain red.
a. 1672. Willughby, Ichthyogr. (1686), Tab. S. 7. Mullus major Salv[iani], a Sirmullet.
1674. Ray, Coll. Words, Sea Fishes, 103. Sur-Mullet, Mullus Antiquorum.
1738. MSS. Dk. Portland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), VI. 175. We had a very good dinner, and a fish which is much prized and valued called a surmullet.
1769. Pennant, Brit. Zool., III. 227. The Red Surmullet … Mullus barbatus. Ibid., 229. The Striped Surmullet, Mullus major.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. xi. I. 273. Asinius Celer purchased a surmullet at the price of eight thousand sestertii.
1899. Matthias Dunn, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 202–3. I have seen surmullets, when going from the brown sand to the dark rocks, quickly change from one colour to the other.
