QUEER FISH

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11493, 21 November 1931, Page 9

QUEER FISH

PEDESTRIANS AND MURDERERS

The most remarkable fish in the world is one that walks many miles across the desert in search of water when drought dries up its water hole.

Tlierq are also : Fish that cany their eggs in their mouths. Fish armed with electric batteries that would knock a horse over. Fish that swim upside down. . Fish that suffer from dropsy, and fish that fight with poison fangs. Although the sea still holds many secrets and shelters monsters far more hideous and terrible than those conceived in the imagination of man. science now knows of 20,000 different species of fish, most of which are more grotesque than any of the creatures that live on land. There is a fish, the plcnny, which is able to emit a piercing shriek, and the needle fish, which always swims head downwards. Tt is the paradise fish from Ceylon which carries Its eggs in its mouth. The father fish builds a nest of bubbles, which he blows from b : s lips, and the mother swims under tlie nest and deposits six or eight eggs. "When they are fertilised the father fish picks the eggs uu in his mouth and blows them into tlie bubble nest, one at a time. Then he mounts guard over the nest, because he knows that- if lie leaves it for a moment his wife will raid ’it and eat all the etrgs. Sometimes her unbatched children seem so appetising that she makes a frantic rush at them, only to he killed by her husband. The father continues his maternal duties after the eggs have been hatched. When food comes in sight he catches it in front of his children,' to teach thorn how to eat.

There is another species of fish called the mouth breeder. The female- keeps her eggs in. her mouth for a fortnight until they* are hatched. During this period her mouth is so full of off-spring that she. cannot eat- anything. . • » •. , Apart from the Egyptian -walking fish, which sets out for long strolls across the desert, there is also a

marine pedestrian in the Gulf of Mexico, called tho batfish.

This curious creature can swim, but prefers to walk along the bottom of the sea. It lias powerful hind legs, and it is covered with white whiskers and warts.

Fish, that suffer from dropsy swell to two or throe times their normal size until their scales stand up like the ruffled feathers of a. bird. Scientists have discovered that the disease is caused among fish . through poor food and overcrowding, so it seems that the slum problem is present, even among fisb. Fish also suffer from other complaints, such as disease of tlio swimming Madder, and parasites. Tho fish with the electric punch is called the Gymnotus electricus. It is found in South American waters, is about four feet long, and has the head of a catfish and the body of an eel.

A biologist at tho Toronto University dissected a dead one and discovered that its body contained four electric batteries, composed . of millions of colls in series, and powerful enough to knock over a- liorso. There is also tho globe fish, with a spiky body, which it inflates when alarmed. If it happens to be iu deep water at tbe-time it fills-itself-with water, but if it is near the surface it fills, itself with air. The effect is the same, inasmuch as it extends its sharp spikes to face the enemy. But when its body is full of air the fish loses its centre of gravity and floats upside down. The African catfish of the Nile swims upside down- on all occasions. That is why-. its_stomaeh is dark colored and its back and sides silver. The reverse colorings are usual among normal fiisli that swim the right way up.

A woman scientist, Afiss Gertrude "White, proved that fish could distinguish colors. Her method was. to wrap tasty food in red paper, bitter food in blue paper, and little stones in-green paper, - The fish soon learned to make a rush for the red packets. - - ' ■ r t