CRAB CRACKERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 October 1924, Page 8

CRAB CRACKERS.

Crab-cracking competitions of an exciting kind are to he seen at the .London Zoo aquarium when the wrasses uje being ted (says a writer in the Daily Chronicle). One would hardly expect a fish resembling a typical sea perch, and scarcely 18in., long, to bite through the shell of a crab neaiay as large as a saucer; but, by means of their strong teeth, the wrasses do this with ease, quite regardless of nips. No sooner is a crab dropped into the tank than it is seized by a watchful wrasse, and, through the thick plate-glass of the tank, you can hear the shell crack, the lucky fish meanwhile being chased by less lucky companions anxious to secure one of the clutching legs of the victims. There is little chance of a crab escaping, even should it reach the bottom in safety, for the wrasses search for crustaceans diligently in every nook and cranny oi' the rockwork. Despite all this, the zoo wrasses have become so tame that they not only feed from the keepers' fingers, but allow him to stroke and pat them. They are the most beautiful of all fishes found around the English coast, being strikingl.v adorned with blue, green, orange, and red.