been computed to

be 1,345,000. A

single sheet of

spawn may measure

from 2 to 3 feet

in breadth and from

25 to 30 feet long.

The BuuLt-

HEADS and GurR-

NARDS, constituting

the next family, are

Bull-heads and Gurnards

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.)

ome |

[Milford-on-Sea.

BUTTERFLY-GURNARD.

The head of all gurnards is encased in an armour of bony plates.

characterised by the spiny armature of the head and.the great size of the breast-fins. The

Photo by Reinhold. Thiele & Co.)

REEL-GURNARD.

[Chancery Lane, W.C.

The curious finger-like processes are used as organs of touch as well as locomotion.

former are represented in British

waters by four species, one of

which, the . MILLER’s-THUMB,

inhabits fresh-water. The

marine species include the SEa-

SCORPION and FAaTHER-LASHER.

The BULL-HEADS on the

Indian and Australian coasts are

represented by the closely allied

FLatT-HEADS, or CROCODILE-FISHES,

in which the head, as its name

implies, is much depressed, and

fully armed with spines, which

are highly poisonous, and cause

a violent irritation. These

fishes live in shallow water,

lying on the bottom, with which

their colours harmonise so completely that they are practically

invisible. The very large ventral

fins—those seen in the photograph immediately behind the

breast-fins—are of great use in

locomotion.

The GuRNARDS are well-known fishes, common on the

of the World628 The Living Animals

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] _Milford-on-Sea. Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

BAR-TAILED FLAT-HEAD. KOCK FLAT-HEAD.

A shallow-water fish. About forty species of flat-heads are known.

coasts of Britain, and extending from tropical to arctic seas. Their curiously shaped heads give them a very quaint appearance. One of the most remarkable peculiarities of these fishes is the separate condition of some of the rays of the breast-fins, which form finger-like organs, used to feel the ground and rake over loose stones, to discover small shrimps and other animals hidden underneath. Furthermore, the gurnards are peculiar in that they are enabled to communicate one with another by means of sounds produced by the expulsion of air from one compartment of the air-bladder to another. * The females are much more common than the males, and also slightly larger. The young are remarkable for the enormous size of the breast-fins, though even in the adult these are unusually large.

Close allies of the Gurnards are the FLYING-GURNARDS, which, by reason of the extreme development of the breast-fins, are enabled to take flying leaps out of the water. One species is not to be mistaken for the true is common in the Mediterranean. The flying-gurnard "flying- fish," or flying-herring, described later. in shrimp-nets, is an The curious mail-clad ARMED BULL-HEAD, or POGGE, commonly taken ally of the flying-gurnard.

CHAPTER V.

LUMP-SUCKERS, GOBIES, BLENNIES, BARRACUDAS, GREY MULLETS,

STICKLEBACKS AND THEIR ALLIES, GARPIKE, AND FLYING-FISHES.

BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S , F.Z.S.

nr~~TGLY in appearance and carnivorous in habits, the Sucker-fish Family are distinguished ^J by the presence of a large round sucker on the belly, with which they adhere to rocks.

Furthermore, the sucker-fishes are remarkable for the softness of their skeleton, which is smaller may be cut through at any point with an ordinary knife. The male lump-sucker than the female, but much more brightly coloured, especially during the breeding-season, when he dons a livery of blue, scarlet, and yellow. He is also a model parent, always remaining near the eggs and keeping a constant stream of fresh water running over them by the action of his breast-fins. A single female may produce as many as 136,000 eggs in a single season. In Scotland the male is known as the COCK and the female as the HEN PADDLE. The species is more common off the coasts of Scotland than elsewhere in the British Islands.

Like the Lump-suckers, the GOBIES, which form the next family, have the ventral fins modified so as to form a sucking-disk, which is used as an anchor. But the gobies are easily

The Goby Family 629

distinguished by their smaller size, elongated bodies, hard skeleton, and the disposition and structure of the fins, characters which need not be discussed further.

One species, the SPOTTED GOBY, or POLE-WING, found in the Thames, is noteworthy on account of its nest-building habits. The male chooses the empty shell of a cockle or mussel, selecting one with its concave surface downwards. Beneath this the sand is cleared away and cemented by a special glue-like secretion formed by the skin of the fish. A cylindrical tunnel is then built to give access to the nest, and the whole is covered over with loose stones. In the nest-chamber formed by the shell the eggs are laid, the male immediately till they hatch, which they do in about nine days.after mounting guard over them

Another species, the PELLUCID GOBY, is remarkable in that its whole life's course is run

Photo by Reinhold Thiele & Co.] [Chancery lane, W.C. LUMP-SUCKER. Known also as the Cock and Hen Paddle

in a single year. In June and July the eggs are laid; they are hatched in August; by the time winter has arrived the fish have reached maturity, and die off in the following July and August, so that in September only the fry are to be met with. is the One of the strangest of all fishes is a member of the Goby Family. This WALKING-FISH, so called from its habit of spending most of its time on the mud-banks of rivers, or on the roots of trees growing in the neighbourhood. The late Surgeon-General Day, describing these fishes as he saw them along the side of the Burmese rivers, writes that at first sight they look like large tadpoles. When suddenly startled by something, away they go flat stone or with a hop, skip, and a jump inland among the trees, or on the water like a piece of slate sent skimming by a schoolboy. When climbing, the breast-fins are used, as if they were arms, to grasp the boughs. If placed in deep water, these fishes are speedily drowned!

of the World The Living Animals630

The BLENNIES are fishes whose skins are soft, slimy, and quite scaleless, or at most covered with very tiny and degenerate scales. The general form of the body may be seen in the photograph below. They are shore-fishes, lurking about in the crevices of rocks, among seaweed, or under stones, and occurring generally along the coasts of temperate and tropical is, however, a deep-water form.regions. The species known as the SEA-CAT or WOLF-FISH

As a rule the eggs are deposited in hollow places between stones or rocks; but in the BUTTER-FISH, or GUNNEL, the eggs are adhesive, and the parents roll them into a ball by coiling their bodies round them. Furthermore, since the parents are frequently found, under natural conditions, coiled round these masses of spawn, it appears that they adopt this method of guarding their treasures. Some species bring forth their young alive.

The largest of the family is the WOLF-FISH, whose jaws are armed with very powerful teeth, able to crush the hardest shells, such as those of the whelk. Sea-urchins and crabs are also eaten. to a group comprising three families the BARRACUDAS, SAND-SMELTS, and We pass on

GREY MULLETS.

It should be mentioned that two very distinct fishes are known as BARRACUDAS, one of which we have already described under the name of Snoek. The forms described here as barracudas are large, voracious fishes living in tropical and sub-tropical seas, and evincing a preference for the coast rather than the open sea. Attaining a length of 8 feet and a weight of 40 Ibs., they are a source of danger to bathers. They are very frequently used as food, though in the West Indies such tmmjfm food is attended with some danger, as the flesh is often poisonous, from the fish having fed on smaller poisonous fishes. Photo by Reinhold Thiele & Co.] [CJiancery Lane, W.C, The SAND-SMELTS are small BLENNY. carnivorous species inhabiting the Blennies have soft, shiny, scaleless skins. seas of temperate and tropical regions. Many enter fresh-water, and some have become entirely acclimatised there. Some species bear a very close resemblance to the true smelt, from which, however, they may be readily distinguished by their small, spinous, first back-fin. The young of at least one small group or genus of this family are remarkable for their habit of clinging together for some time after they are hatched in dense masses and almost incredible numbers.

The GREY MULLETS are brackish-water fishes, feeding on vegetable growths and minute shell-fish. They also suck up large quantities of sand into the mouth for the sake of the minute organisms contained therein; much of this is passed on into the stomach, which is thick and muscular, like that of many birds. Altogether some seventy species of grey mullets are known, the majority of which attain a weight of about 4 Ibs., but there are many which grow to 10 or 12 Ibs. All are eaten, and some highly esteemed.

The FLUTE-MOUTHS, STICKLEBACKS, and TORTOISE-FISHES are three closely allied and extremely first are really gigantic marine sticklebacks, in which the jaws areinteresting families. The produced into a long tube. They are shore-fishes, entering brackish water, and confined to sub-tropical and tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.

Of the STICKLEBACKS there are several species, some of which are entirely salt-water fishes,

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

NORTHERN MULLET.

A member of the family of Grey Mullets.

Photo by Reinhold Thiele & Co.] [Chancery Lane, W.C.

RED MULLET.

Not related to the Grey Mullets, this species is placed here for the sake of contrast.

631

whilst others enjoy the rather unusual distinction of being able to live in either fresh or salt water, even when rapidly transferred from one to the other. The small species commonly inhabiting ponds and ditches can sustain changes of this kind with impunity. These last are very ferocious. One kept in an aquarium devoured in five hours seventy-four young dace about a quarter of an Photo by W. Saviile-Kent, F.Z.S.] inch long. They occa- GAKPIKES. sionally occur in vast Frequently called Guard-fishes. shoals, and, according to the naturalist Pennant, appear in the river Welland, in Lincolnshire, once in seven years in amazing shoals, so that a man employed in collecting them earned four shillings a day by

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