Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 2, September 1900: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and Nature, Vol. 08, No. 2, September 1900: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
A fish is a cold-blooded animal; that is, his temperature is nearly
the same as that of the water in which he lives. His circulation is
sluggish and his appetite is a variable quantity. He has the capacity
to take in large quantities of food at one meal and properly assimilate
it; on the other hand he is able to fast for weeks at a time. He has
his own notions about eating, and it is quite impossible to induce him
to change them, and all this has considerable influence on his rate
of growth. It is out of the question to expect him to grow when he is
fasting; on the other hand he must draw on the fat he has stored up in
his body to furnish him energy for his muscular movements and to carry
on the ordinary functions of nutrition. The fish here has an advantage
over the warm-blooded animals, for he does not need to generate heat
to keep his body at a constant temperature. The amount of food often
eaten at one time is quite remarkable. I remember once of taking nearly
one pound of sunfish from the stomach of a Large-mouthed Black Bass.
This does not indicate that a bass must eat such meals three times each
day, it only shows his capacity to make use of a large quantity of food
when it is abundant and his stomach feels the need of it. A trout is a
good feeder; his stomach and mouth are large, much in size like that
of the black bass. From experiments conducted at Neosho, Missouri, by
Mr. Page, he found that a young trout did best on a daily ration of
solid food equal to about seventy-five per cent of its weight. On this
amount the trout would reach an average length of six inches in one
year. The average amount of solid food consumed daily by a man is from
one and one-half to two per cent of his weight, or more than twice that
consumed by our active, growing young trout. As mentioned before, the
trout is relieved from generating heat to keep his body at a constant
temperature, and at one usually much higher than the medium in which he
lives.
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