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
=Lurking Fishes.=--Mr. Whitmee supposes that most carnivorous fish
capture their prey by outswimming them; but to this there are numerous
exceptions; the angler or fishing-frog (_Lophis piscatorius_), "while
crouching close to the ground, by the action of its ventral and
pectoral fins stirs up the sand and mud; hidden by the obscurity thus
produced, it elevates its anterior dorsal spines, moves them in various
directions by way of attraction as a bait, and the small fishes,
approaching either to examine or to seize them, immediately become the
prey of the fisher." (Yarrell.) In India we find a fresh-water Siluroid
(_Chaca lophioides_) which "conceals itself among the mud, from which,
by its lurid appearance and a number of loose filamentous substances
on its skin, it is scarcely distinguishable; and with an immense open
mouth it is ready to seize any small prey that is passing along." (Ham.
Buchanan.) In March, 1868, I obtained a fine example of _Ichthyscopus
lebeck_ (Fishes of India, p. 261), which I placed in water having a bed
of mud; into this it rapidly worked itself, first depressing one side
and then another, until only the top of its head and mouth remained
above the mud, whilst a constant current was kept up through its gills.
It made a noise, half snapping and half croaking, when removed from its
native element.
In the Royal Westminster Aquarium, says Dr. Day, is a live example
of the electric eel (_Electrophorus electricus_) which has in its
electric organs the means of showing when it is affected by anger or
terror. Some consider this curious property is for protection against
alligators: it is certainly used against fishes for the purpose of
obtaining food; but when we remember how, when the Indians drive in
horses and mules to the waters infested by the eels, they immediately
attack them, we must admit that such cannot be for the purpose of
preying upon them, but is due to anger or terror at being disturbed.
(DAY.)
=Carrying Eggs in the Mouth.=--Many catfishes (_Siluridæ_) carry their
eggs in the mouth until hatched. The first and most complete account
of this habit of catfishes is that by Dr. Jeffries Wyman, which he
communicated to the Boston Society of Natural History at its meeting on
September 15, 1857. In 1859, in a paper entitled "On Some Unusual Modes
of Gestation," Dr. Wyman published a full account of his observations
as follows, here quoted from a paper on Surinam fishes by Evermann and
Goldsborough:
"Among the Siluroid fishes of Guiana there are several species which,
at certain seasons of the year, have their mouths and branchial
cavities filled either with eggs or young, and, as is believed, for the
purpose of incubation. My attention was first called to this singular
habit by the late Dr. Francis W. Cragin, formerly United States consul
at Paramaribo, Surinam. In a letter dated August, 1854, he says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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