Red-Winged Sea Robins.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 68

Red-Winged Sea Robins.

I suppose the peculiarity ' which would be noticed first about the sea-robin, grunter, or gurnard, as he is variously railed, would be his clumsy shape. The head is large and deep in comparison with the body. One of our observing young folk, looking at him alive in his tank of the United .States Fieh Commission, Washington, would be apt to exclaim, " Ob, sec, lie has little hcok-claws, which help him crawl along!" Sure enough, just in from of the pectoral or bide fins i re three little, finger-like processes on each side, which aio used to *tir up weeds and sand, and to rako around among tho pebbled and tout out the- «mall animal* upon which the sea-robin feeds in its native waters. While doing tlm it teems to be crawling along over the bottom by hooking these peculiar claws into the sand. Sea-robins feed on small crabs, fish, shrimps, and other diminutive animals, which they find in among the loose stones. .Tn Europe all the gurnard family of fishes are eagerly sought, a3 they find a ready sale in the fibh market. They attain a length of 2ft and weight of 131b. Our species of the sea-robin, a cousin to the European variety, is found on oui* northern coast, and is taken in great numbers in the pond' nets along Vineyard Sound, where they spawn during the summer months. They are much esteemed for the table, being one of the most delicate of the edible fishes. The flesh is firm, snow-white, and hard to distinguish from that of the kingfkh. The American sea-robin is 15in to 18in long and wciglis from lilb to 21b. When taken from the water they gvunt quite loudly, and if placed on the ground give a little hop forward' of a, few inches, grunting as they do so. This grunting sound can be heard quite plainly if me is in a boat lying quietly in shallow water near where they are. The head is sheathed with bony plates and armed with sharp points, which are j lather hard to distinguish at first, as they lie quite flat against it., When caught they eiect all their spines and inflict very painful woundb on those who try to handle them. The pectoral fins are -a little more than half as long as the body, and may be extended like a fan when in use, or folded quite close together when on the bottom, thus giving them the name of "butterfly fish." The rays of the tail may also be much extended to look like a Japanese fan.

The colour of thi6 peculiar fish is a brownish yellow ov»r the back and eides, and crsam white below. The pectoral fjr,e are deep orauge 'colour, with a blackish marking toward the tips, crossed all over with little dark brown lines and edged with light yellow-orange colour. The lower jaw and sides are light orange-yellow ; the eye is a, beautiful turquoise blue, edged with a vein of brassy jelloWi— &k Nichola|.

! The Sea Wolf.— A sea wolf caught by salmon fishers off the Esk, in Montrose, Scotland, is described "as follows: — Its mouth measured 174 in across, and when fully opened the circumference was 52in. The luags were like a, white parasol cut - in two. In the middle of the fish were two "paws" remarkably like hands, tie five fingers being attached by a fine membrane. The sea wolfs habit is to he at the -bottom of the water, with open mouth, manipulating two cod-like flappers to attract its prey. These flappers aro fixed over its head. On being cut open, the wolf's stomach was found to contain, a seagull, which had been swallowed whole. As soon as the bird was removed the spectators were even more astonished to find a big eel, which was 6till alive. - A ring-tailed coati (Nasua rufa) is-among the new inmates of the small mammals' house at the London Zoo, where there ot© new living no fewer then three* examples of this interesting- New World carnivore. I "Brazilian weasel is one of the, several I names by which the " coatimondi" formerly was known. Pennant " described it as a " weasel with the Upper jaw lengthened .into a -pliant, movable proboscis, mueb k longer than th» lower jaw; oars rounded; eyes small; nose dusky; hair oik the "body. i smooth, soft,, and glossy, of a^ bright bay 'colour; tail annulated with dusky and bay." Individuals of this species i ar.e -liable to An extraordinary variation in colour, and while one of ■the species now .in the Zeo is of . a bright .chestnut hue, one is -nearly black. The coatimondr bears captivity well, -and ' soon becomes attached to its " keepers ; it loves to be noticed, and, to a-ttact attention, frequently utters _its peculiar- squeaking cry. It has been suggested that in its native forest the coa-ti uses this cry with the object of luring birds to their doom. Several specimens, of the Cape hyrax are among the new inmates of the London. Zoological Gardens, where hitherto never more than one or two have been exhibited at the sarce time. No fewer than 12 of them reached the menagerie aiive.* Since their arrival some of them have died; but it is hoped that the survivors — eight or nine in number — will recover from the effects of their journey and thrive in the gardens. Thi3 little mammal is still fairly oammon in suitable*- localities in South Africa, as well as in other parts of ths Continent, in Arabia, and in Palestine. .At first sight it would be put down as' a rodent; but in spite of its minute 6ize — for it is no larger than a rabbit — its nearest relations are the elephant arid the rhinoceros. In common with those huse creatures, the hyrax is provided with hoofs to its feet — four on the front feet and three on the hind ones. The soles of its feet are fleshy, 'and' enable the animal to maintain a sure hold on an uneven surfatve. In its dentition it much-resembles .tbe rhinocercs, and, like that beast, the .hyrax is a strict Vegetarian. The Flying Fish.— Doc* the «ying fish really fly, or is the iro-called flight *, mere extended lean, in -which the fins' are use^l on the principle of the >eroplaiie- to float or rest . on the air, and so afford support to the body' The question has benn much discussed,^ and many naturaliste have denied it. the power of "true flight. Mr Frank Bullen, who in his many voyages has hod unique opportunities for observing the flying^ fish, is emphatic 'n the assertion that it does really fly in the proper sense of the 'word. He hse seen it, for example, change its course at a sharp angle when an obstacle intervened, and when about to ro-entcr the water he has seen it rise and continue its course on ' seeing an enemy below. Some recent observations contributed by L'eutenant-colonel Durnford to the ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History " confirm this view. The write? contend? that the ordinary aeroplane theory involves a mechanical impossibility. ' The true explanation is an infcensly rapid vibration of the wing-like fins— a vibration which r>ecomes apparent -to the eye «s it slows down when the fiab reaches the water. — Six-and-twenty years ago tbe late^ Professor Huxley suggested that in the longcared fox (Otocyon megalotis) of South and" East Africa we have an animal nearly representing the stock from which have be-on* evolved all the other representative of the do<? and Fox tribsv One of the main, prrounds for arriving at thi'3 conclusion was the fact that this anin<al has very generally four true molars in each jaw. and always that number in the lower jaw: whereas three is the maximum number of these teeth to be met with in nearly all placenial mamrr-a^s, other than whales, manatia, armadillos, and some others The additional molars in Otocyon were regarded n« survivals from a primitive typ<\ when, a larger number was the rule. Palteonthology has, however, made great etrides since IF-30, and the ; dea rhafc Ibe earlier mammais had more teeth than r;heir - descendants hc<» not only received no confirmation, 6nt has be?n practically disproved. Consequently Mies Albertina Carlr-on has had a comparatively easy ia.«k (in a paoar published in ihe Zoolotrisch<?r Jahrbueh) in demonstrating that the long-eared fox is a sneciaiised. fnd to some extent degraded, form rather than a, primitive type. This, however, is not all, for the lady points out that as was suggested years aaro by Mr Lydekker. tl c noature is really the descendant of the fos-,il Canis curvip-alatus of Northern India.' This, of course, is a circumstance of considerable interest from a distributional point of view, as affording one more instance of the intimate relationship between, th* Tertiary mammalian fauna of Indiaand ihe existing mammals of Africa.