154 ROCK GOBY. 



an opportunity when the tide has been of unusual hpi^ht. 

 But in these pools they continue for life, safe from the 

 depredations of the shag and cormorant, which are ever 

 prowling round the shores in search of the smaller fishes they 

 can meet with there. The pools are clothed with green oreweeds, 

 on which the Gobies sometimes feed, for I have found it in 

 their stomachs; yet it does not appear natural to them, for I 

 have seen it, as it has passed into the intestines, very little, 

 if at all digested. Their more appropriate food seems to be 

 the abundance of crustacean animals which are bred in these 

 haunts, and they are seen to rise to the surface, and seize 

 the flies that have alighted for a moment to rest themselves. 

 They take an appropriate bait eagerly, and I have taken a 

 Shanny of two inches in length from the stomach of a Goby 

 that but little exceeded six inches. When they have seized 

 their prey of a size greater than they are able to swallow 

 with ease, they carry it off" to a safe place, and there appear 

 as if struggling with it in the act of devouring it. 



This fish has a sharp sight, and, when alarmed, which is 

 easily effected, it darts away for shelter to some well-known 

 crevice, where its colour, which resembles that of the rock, 

 secures it from discovery. When at ease it rests on the ground, 

 but there is no reason to suppose that the characteristic structure 

 of the ventral fin affords any power of adhering to the sub- 

 stance on which it rests, and when kept in captivity the use 

 made of it appears to be only for mechanical support. When 

 once settled in their limited domain, it does not appear 

 probable that they ever leave it again, since I have never met 

 with them of proportionate size in other situations; but those 

 which keep on the open shore are usually in oozy places, 

 where, when the tide has left them, they find concealment 

 under a stone. They are equally capable of living in fresh 

 and salt water, and even if changed suddenly from one of these 

 to the other. I have found an individual with enlarged roe 

 in February, and very young ones, which appeared to belong 

 to this species, in the autumn. 



If we may trust the poet Martial, there was a Goby that 

 was highly valued for the table by the people of Venice in 

 ancient times; but with us the whole of them are of small 

 account as food. 



