CHAPTER VIII 



PROTRACTILE MOUTHS AND DIFFERENT WAYS OF FEEDING 



So seldom is the adjective " protractile " used in 

 everyday language that we must explain its meaning. 

 However, the etymology is simple. As applied to the 

 mouth of fishes, it means that the jaws can be moved 

 forwards and then withdrawn. The John Dory mav 

 serve as an example of a fish with such a mouth. 



I have described this species elsewhere, mentioning 

 its compressed shape; the position it habitually adopts 

 which makes it seem like the blade of a knife as it 

 floats upright; the markings on its sides, and the 

 story that the fishermen tell about it. But these are 

 not its only peculiarities. There is one which I have 

 not yet mentioned, but which deserves to be referred 

 to here. I once took a dory that had just been caught. 

 It was among a number of little anglers and whiting 

 which had been taken by a fishing smack. It was still 

 fresh and supple, and its eyes were bright. I carefully 

 set it down on my table in such a way as to give it the 

 natural appearance it has in life. 



Lying flat in front of me, I have a fish which, in 

 its natural state, floats in the water like a vertical disk. 

 To give it the appearance of life I have only to tilt 

 the piece of wood on which it is lying. Then it is, so 

 to speak, on edge, as it was when alive. Above the 

 trunk I spread out the first dorsal fin, which is broad 

 and high, with long plume-like filaments which stream 

 behind it and are the source of various common names 

 given to the species because of their resemblance to 

 the tail-feathers of a cock or other bird. I look at the 

 large head, compressed like the body, with large eyes 



