CHAPTER XXIII 

 THE COLLECTION OF FISHES 



OW to Secure Fishes. In collecting fishes three things 

 are vitally necessary a keen eye, some skill in 

 adapting means to ends, and some willingness 

 to take pains in the preservation of material. 



In coming into a new district the collector should try to 

 preserve the first specimen of every species he sees. It may 

 not come up again. He should watch carefully for specimens 

 which look just a little different from their fellows, especially 

 for those which are duller, less striking, or with lower fins. Many 

 species have remained unnoticed through generations of col- 

 lectors who have chosen the handsomest or most ornate speci- 

 mens. In some groups with striking peculiarities, as the trunk- 

 fishes, practically all the species were known to Linnaeus. No 

 collector could pass them by. On the other hand, new gobies 

 or blennies can be picked up almost every day in the lesser 

 known parts of the world. For these overlooked forms her- 

 rings, anchovies, sculpins, blennies, gobies, scorpion-fishes the 

 competent collector should be always on the watch. If any 

 specimen looks different from the rest, take it at once and find 

 out the reason why. 



In most regions the chief dependence of the collector is on 

 the markets and these should be watched most critically. By 

 paying a little more for unusual, neglected, or useless fish, the 

 supply of these will rise to the demand. The word passed 

 along among the people of Onomichi in Japan, that "Ebisu 

 the fish-god was in the village" and would pay more for 

 okose (poison scorpion-fishes) and umiuma (sea-horses) than 

 real fishes were worth soon brought (in 1900) all sorts of okose 

 and umiuma into the market when they were formerly left 

 neglected on the beach. Thus with a little ingenuity the mar- 

 kets in any country can be greatly extended. 



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