| OCR Text |
Show ~20 MR. F. DAY ON FEAR AND ANGER IN FISHES. [Feb. 19, done with the tail. Here I am unable to concur. Fish, the same as other animals, when they commence to fight, employ that portion of the body most suited to such a purpose. Thus the Perch will employ his teeth, the Sword-fish his elongated snout, the Lancet-fish the spine at the side of its tail, the Siluroid may use his dorsal or pectoral spine. Instances of all these modes of attack may be referred to. "Continuing Couch's illustration of the Stickleback, he observes, ' The bite of these little furies is so severe that I have frequently known it, when inflicted on the tail, produce mortification and, consequently, death. They also use their lateral spines (ventral fins) with such fatal effect that, incredible as it may appear, I have seen one during a battle absolutely rip his opponent quite open, so that he sank to the bottom and died.' "That the Sword-fish employs his sword-like projection for this purpose is well known ; frequent examples occur of his driving that formidable weapon into ships, whilst, according to Swainson, he is very fierce, and attacks a Whale whenever he encounters one ; other observers, however, represent the Sword-fish as gentle and inoffensive except to Whales. " The Lancet-fish as it swims past its enemy tears up au open wound. " As regards the Siluroids we have more than one mode of attack; but I do not know of any Siluroid that employs its tail for this purpose. In one of the Siluroids of the Ohio ' the first ray of the dorsal is formed of a very strong, sharp spine, which the animal uses to kill others of a smaller size ; for this purpose it gets beneath the fish it intends to attack, and then, suddenly rising, wounds it repeatedly in the belly.' " M r . Whitmee supposes that most carnivorous fish capture their prey by outswimming them; but to this there are numerous exceptions. The Angler, or Fishing Frog (Lophius 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 appendages (situated on the upper surface of the head), 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 freshwater 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 inermis (' 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 the other, 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. This sound I consider most probably due to fear. Some fish, in |
