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MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. XIV, 



red-brown seaweed. Some have suggested therefore that this is a 

 case of protective colouration, but this I doubt. The quick-eyed 

 people of the sea are not so easily deceived and in my opinion its 

 colouration and form are more likely to serve as warning signs 

 that their owner is an unpleasant morsel, and one best left severely 

 alone. This seems the more reasonable as this fish is particularly 

 bony and is able to inliict dangerous wounds with the spines of its 

 dorsal fin, which are provided with poison glands. The aquarium 

 attendants have, if anything, more fear of handling this fish than 

 they have of the deadly sea-snakes. 



Possibly the weed-like appearance of this fish has a secondary 

 mimetic purpose, for while I do not think that large fish that might 

 prey upon it would be deceived, this may happen in the case of the 

 tiny fish and fry that it feeds upon. Their outlook in life is so cir- 

 cumscribed that they may well take the mass of fluttering reddish 

 ribbons to be a bunch of weed and so approach it in misplaced 

 confidence with fatal results. 



In the same tank are several examples of a large-eyed brilliant 

 copper-red fish which may appropriately be called the Blotch-eye 

 {Myriopristis /nnrdjaii; Tam. Miiiidakankdkdsi), of a genus that 

 had many representatives in byegone days and whose fossil 



Fig. 14. — Blotch-eye [J/yrio^r/s/is nitirdjan'). 



remains are common objects in geological museums. They often 

 suffer from " gas-eye " and in this condition are unable to maintain 

 themselves in a horizontal position ; instead however of floating 

 head up they float vertically with the tail up. A remarkable dark 

 blotch passes through the eye, with another behind the gill cover 



