G. Cheshire claims in his April 2019 paper that VMS Pisces
![[Image: VMPisces.jpg]](https://voynichportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/VMPisces.jpg)
"are most likely to be the Mediterranean seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)":
![[Image: dicentrarchus-labrax.jpg]](http://www.alphasouthsarl.com/fish/dicentrarchus-labrax/dicentrarchus-labrax.jpg)
His reasoning for his choice is that "it has the scaly body with a smooth head and slightly upturned lip".
First of all, don't most fish have scaly bodies?
Secondly, do you see an upturned lip? Do you see any lip? Do you see a long nose?
I think pikes and pike-perches are a better match than sea bass. They have long noses and long bodies (which are undulating when you lift them up), but it could just as easily be an invented fish, or one copied from another source. Marco pointed out a very similar drawing in the Saxon Mirror and I found a similar fish in a Greek fresco. Both sources are much more similar to the VMS than Cheshire's Dicentrarchus labrax.
"are most likely to be the Mediterranean seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)":
His reasoning for his choice is that "it has the scaly body with a smooth head and slightly upturned lip".
First of all, don't most fish have scaly bodies?
Secondly, do you see an upturned lip? Do you see any lip? Do you see a long nose?
I think pikes and pike-perches are a better match than sea bass. They have long noses and long bodies (which are undulating when you lift them up), but it could just as easily be an invented fish, or one copied from another source. Marco pointed out a very similar drawing in the Saxon Mirror and I found a similar fish in a Greek fresco. Both sources are much more similar to the VMS than Cheshire's Dicentrarchus labrax.