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Show 132 REV. s. J. WHITMEE ON THE HABITS OF FISHKS. [Feb. 5, 3. On the Manifestation of Anger, Fear, and other in Fishes, and on the Use of their Spines.1 By the Rev. S. J. WHITMEE, C.M.Z.S. [Received January 2, 1878.] In his remarks on the erection of the dermal appendages by various animals under the excitement of anger and terror Mr. Darwin (' Expression of the Emotions in M e n and Animals') confines himself to " three of the great Vertebrate classes," viz. mammals, birds, and reptiles (p. 95). When I first read the passage referred to, I tried to think of some reference to the manifestation of anger by fishes in books with which I a m familiar, but I failed to call any to mind. And as M r . Darwin has not brought forward any examples as to how fishes manifest their "emotions," I am almost compelled to believe no observations have been recorded. I read, too, in the article ' Ichthyology," in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' (vol. xii. p. 221, 8th ed.), after a fanciful comparison between birds and fishes, to the great disadvantage of the latter, that " the silent dweller in the deep knows few attachments, expresses no language, cherishes no affections, . . . the cravings of hunger seem alone to exercise a frequent and influential action over his monotonous movements;" and that " b y whatever scenes in nature fishes are surrounded, their perceptions are probably indistinct and dull" a. Notwithstanding that so little appears to be written on the manifestation of feeling by fishes, it strikes m e many persons who have kept an aquarium must have noticed that they show anger quite as plainly as any other animals. For some time past I have kept a good sized aquarium for the instruction and amusement of myself and m y family. M y house is situated on the coast, and has a belt of shallow and smooth water before it, formed by the coral-reef which runs along in front of it nearly a mile out at sea. This lagoon is a fine place for fishes ; and I encourage the natives to bring m e any thing remarkable they obtain when fishing there. I have therefore often had fishes belonging to several genera together in m y aquarium. Amongst other things I have had opportunities of watching their quarrels, which are by no means infrequent among the individuals of the same species, and which are of constant occurrence between different species and genera. The signs of anger in most fishes are so obvious that one of m y boys, between three and four years old, w ho is fond of making his own observations in natural history, knows an angry fish as well as most people know an angry bull or an angry boar. 1 This paper was written in Samoa, in October 1875, and is given in its original form. S. J. W., December 27, 1877. 2 There are other remarks in the article mentioned which, I presume, will be corrected in the new edition of the ' Encyclopaedia'-sucb, e. g., as the statement that the elegant and diversified colours of fishes are probably for the special gratification of man. Unfortunately these quickly disappear when man gets possession of the fish. |
