found it for their well being to adopt a protective dark color. It 

 is not known to me that all goldfish adopt a dark color during 

 the spawning time ; however, what is interesting is the fact 

 that all the little young fish, — I have counted eleven from this 

 dark mother fish, — have the same dark color, and now that 

 they are about two months old, some of this coloring begins 

 on the head and on the belly to change to yellow, and one of 

 them is now almost yellow. As goldfish like to swim in well 

 lighted places, even when they have their choice, 1 believe 

 they will all change in time to golden yellow, like their father ; 

 however, I am not sure about the true father, as there are 

 two large dark ones. 



When a color is protective, a goldfish, which likes to swim 

 near the surface in the sunshine, will certainly obtain more 

 respect from its enemies than when it had a dark color; this 

 golden yellow is a rare color, and consequently a nrotective 

 fright-color. I wish to point here to the published statement, 

 which I accept as true, that all fish have a protective color. 

 Many people wonder why it is that all fish have the under- 

 side lighter than the upper side. Both sides have protective 

 color in the following manner : When a fish swims in the 

 water, all other fish, animals, or men, that are above, and 

 look down, will see a dark background, no matter how clear 

 the water is, and this fisb unon which you look, will show you 

 only the dark back, and is by this dark color, in some degree 

 protected. On the contrary, all enemies which are deeper in 

 the water and look upwards, will see a light background, and 

 will see only the under side of the fish, and in this way the 

 light colored underside will be the protective one. You may 

 think, if this is true, why is it that a very big fish of prey 

 is colored in the same way? Well, a big fellow has to use his 

 protective color to make a living. If it had no protective color, 

 all the little fish would see the danger in time, and the big 

 fellow would soon starve to death. 





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