MIGRATORY FISHES. 209 



CHAPTER XIII. 



FISHES FOR MARINE AQUARIA. 



THE so-called " migratory " fishes, as the mackerel, 

 herring, pilchard, sprat, &c., are more difficult to keep 

 long in active health in our marine aquaria than those 

 which prefer to pass their lives always in the same 

 locality. All of them are gracefully-shaped fish, and 

 the mackerel, in addition, is one of the most beauti- 

 fully marked and coloured. Their well-known value 

 as food-fishes, and the fact that everybody is familial 

 with their appearance, was a strong inducement for 

 the managers of the first-formed aquaria to exhibit 

 them in their show tanks. All of them are more 

 active by night than by day, and we have seen how 

 Mr. Henry Lee and Mr. Saville-Kent ingeniously 

 prevented the young herrings from mutilating them- 

 selves. When mackerel were first introduced into 

 the Brighton Aquarium in 1872, some of them beat 

 themselves to death by dashing against the rockwork. 

 Since then they have been acclimatised, and living 

 specimens may now be seen there which have lived 

 ever since, and grown considerably in size. Herrings 

 are exceedingly active and graceful fish, and were 

 first domesticated at the Brighton Aquarium, and 



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