Insects copulate

and breed in winter also, that is when the
weather is fine and south winds prevail; such, I mean, as do not
hibernate, as the fly and the ant. The greater part of wild animals
bring forth once and once only in the year, except in the case of
animals like the hare, where the female can become superfoetally
impregnated.

In like manner the great majority of fishes breed only once a
year, like the shoal-fishes (or, in other words, such as are caught in
nets), the tunny, the pelamys, the grey mullet, the chalcis, the
mackerel, the sciaena, the psetta and the like, with the exception
of the labrax or basse; for this fish (alone amongst those
mentioned) breeds twice a year, and the second brood is the weaker
of the two. The trichias and the rock-fishes breed twice a year; the
red mullet breeds thrice a year, and is exceptional in this respect.
This conclusion in regard to the red mullet is inferred from the
spawn; for the spawn of the fish may be seen in certain places at
three different times of the year. The scorpaena breeds twice a
year. The sargue breeds twice, in the spring and in the autumn. The
saupe breeds once a year only, in the autumn. The female tunny
breeds only once a year, but owing to the fact that the fish in some
cases spawn early and in others late, it looks as though the fish bred
twice over. The first spawning takes place in December before the
solstice, and the latter spawning in the spring. The male tunny
differs from the female in being unprovided with the fin beneath the
belly which is called aphareus.