A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)Jordan, David Starr
History
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
Jordan, David Starr
Fishes; Fishes -- Bibliography; Zoology -- History
=Quiescent Fishes.=--Some fishes, as the lancelet, lie buried in
the sand all their lives. Others, as the sand-darter (_Ammocrypta
pellucida_) and the hinalea (_Julis gaimard_), bury themselves in the
sand at intervals or to escape from their enemies. Some live in the
cavities of tunicates or sponges or holothurians or corals or oysters,
often passing their whole lives inside the cavity of one animal. Many
others hide themselves in the interstices of kelp or seaweeds. Some
eels coil themselves in the crevices of rocks or coral masses, striking
at their prey like snakes. Some sea-horses cling by their tails to
gulfweed or sea-wrack. Many little fishes (_Gobiomorus_, _Carangus_,
_Psenes_) cluster under the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese
man-of-war or under ordinary jellyfishes. In the tide-pools, whether
rock, coral, or mud, in all regions multitudes of little fishes abound.
As these localities are neglected by most collectors, they have proved
of late years a most prolific source of new species. The tide-pools of
Cuba, Key West, Cape Flattery, Sitka, Unalaska, Monterey, San Diego,
Mazatlan, Hilo, Kailua and Waiahæ in Hawaii, Apia and Pago-Pago in
Samoa, the present writer has found peculiarly rich in rock-loving
forms. Even richer are the pools of the promontories of Japan, Hakodate
Head, Misaki, Awa, Izu, Waka, and Kagoshima, where a whole new fish
fauna unknown to collectors in markets and sandy bays has been brought
to light. Some of these rockfishes are left buried in the rock weeds
as the tide flows, lying quietly until it returns. Others cling to the
rocks by ventral suckers, while still others depend for their safety on
their powers of leaping or on their quickness of their movements in the
water. Those of the latter class are often brilliantly colored, but the
others mimic closely the algæ or the rocks. Some fishes live in the sea
only, some prefer brackish-water. Some are found only in the rivers,
and a few pass more or less indiscriminately from one kind of water to
another.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Pearl-fish, _Fierasfer acus_ (Linnæus),
issuing from a _Holothurian_. Coast of Italy. (After Emery.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 122.--Portuguese Man-of-war Fish, _Gobiomorus
gronovii_. Family _Stromateidæ_].
=Migratory Fishes.=--The movements of migratory fishes are mainly
controlled by the impulse of reproduction. Some pelagic fishes,
especially those of the mackerel and flying-fish families, swim long
distances to a region favorable for the deposition of spawn. Others
pursue for equal distances the schools of menhaden or other fishes
which serve as their prey. Some species are known mainly in the waters
they make their breeding homes, as in Cuba, Southern California,
Hawaii, or Japan, the individuals being scattered at other times
through the wide seas.
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