1 62 The Life Story of the Fish 



tactics of projecting gill covers and extended fins which we 

 noted in the betta. Unripe fish, even though much larger, 

 will make no attempt to stand against him. Other ripe males 

 fight back, and the vanquished in the battle loses his bright 

 coloring and retires from the field. A ripe female, as in the 

 betta, will neither fight nor flee. There follows a prolonged 

 courtship, often lasting several days. The two fish, both in 

 brilliant coloration, join forces in defending the occupied 

 territory. They slap each other with their tails. They stand 

 on their heads in the sand and vibrate. They select some 

 hard surface like a piece of rock, and clean it of all dirt and 

 weed by polishing it with their mouths. They dig pits in the 

 sand. At last the moment arrives. The female swims slowly 

 over the rock, depositing on it a row of from five to twenty 

 adherent eggs, and now the reason for the rock-polishing 

 becomes apparent, for if the surface were not clean the eggs 

 would not stick to it. She swims off a short distance and waits 

 while the male moves over the same spot, fertilizings then 

 she returns to lay more. This goes on for about an hour, the 

 unengaged member keeping all other fish at bay, until there 

 is a beautifully geometric circle of several hundred fertilized 

 eggs. (See Plate IV.) These the parents guard until they 

 hatch. While the young are helpless they move them from 

 place to place in their mouths. After they have learned to 

 swim they herd them about and drive away enemies, quite 

 like a hen with its chicks. 



Aside from the fact that fertilization is external instead 

 of internal, the parental behavior is every bit as complex as 

 that of most birds. And even though copulation does not 

 take place, the sex life of the parents seems to be as complete 

 as that of birds, and certainly far more so than that of most 

 reptiles and amphibia. For we have selection of mates, court- 

 ship accompanied by brilliant courting colors and an elaborate 

 pattern of activities, a prolonged period of fertilization, and 



