THE BOYS' CORNER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19910, 31 March 1928, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE BOYS' CORNER.

QUEER FISH. WONDERS OF THE DEEP. . Many people who are deeply interested in nature, in tho birds and trees and flowers, fail to realise that the finny creatures of oceans and rivers and lakes arc in their way just as beautiful and full of interest as the creatures that live on land. In our own New Zealand waters, for instance, we have- many remarkable fish. There is the queer" little fellow known jj.s the " hapuka's grandfather " like no other creature in land or .skv or sen; then again there is the gurnard" the beautiful blue fish with the delicate that makes the most distressing moaning sounds as it; gasps away its little life! Other countries, too, have rnanv querr fish from which we may learn" many strange and interesting facts of natural history. Alaska has a fish which, when dried can be used as a candle. The Electric Eel is so called because o!! a kind of electric point at the tip of its. tail. ]t can give off a shock enou-di to stun a man. The angler fish is the " Will-o'-th'-VVisp "of fishland. Its body is camouflaged like seaweed, and as it" lies on tho sea bed it can give off a red light which attracts smaller fish on which the " angler " feeds. The eyes of soles and plaice move about their bodies while young. In early days they swim upright with an eye on each side, but as they begin to swim flat one eye crosses right over the body, urtil both eyes are on the same side. j",i sor«G rases the eye is belived to hrve passed right through the body. It is from the cuttlefish that we • get our beautiful sepia colour. It is ejected as a so;:t of fluid. One species of shark grows to fnllv forty feet in length and is quite harmless. A craib caught, marked, and then released, was found to have travelled from Cromer to Flamborough Head,' over 100 miles away, while a plaice has been proved to have travelled well over 200 miles in but a month or two. vraters around Kongkong; have a fish with almost a human looking head, and which gives a cry almost like that of a baby. A spirited contest results wh-on two of the famous fighting fish of Siam confront each other, quivering with excitement. In place of their normal dull-grey colour, they aro dazzling brilliant with metallic hues of red, green, orange and purple. Tho tiny gladiators—thev are little more than an inch or so in length—literally glow with fury, with fins outspread. They make frantic clashes at -each other In the far East, combats between these fighting fish are held before huge audiences, fortunes being won and lost over the issue. Such damage is inflicted by tho combatants that it is seldom a fish fights more than once. But the victor cannot be said to have won " on points " for, unlike the little " light-weight champion " —the Stickleback—the Siamese fighting fish has no spines to use as weapons.