WHAT THE FISHES SEE 



too ready to answer the question affirmatively. And 

 as for any other opinion, we have first of all to 

 find one. 



I set myself the task of finding out what I have noted 

 from time to time, and go through my notes. Starting 

 at the beginning, with an example which best seems to 

 support the case for perfect vision, I find the remarkable 

 case of the Basilisk Blenny. This little fish belongs to 

 the family of Blennies, whose suppleness and agility 

 in leaping and swimming, whose strange attitudes and 

 brilliant colours, I have had occasion to mention else- 

 where. Relatively almost as lively and active in the 

 water as the humming-bird is in the air, equally gor- 

 geous and sparkling, the blennies, whatever their species, 

 are remarkable for their hue, their variety of colour, and 

 their swift undulating movements. There are some 

 with black coloration, with an iridescent dark lustre. 

 There are others fawn coloured, with purple patches, 

 or spotted with brown and yellow in marble-like mark- 

 ings, or with cross-bars, either in delicate stripes or in 

 broad bands. Some are green, a grass green, speckled 

 with blue and gold like tiny flowers. In one, the large 

 fins are of the same colour as the trunk; in another, 

 they are different. Every conceivable hue is to be found 

 in these little creatures which haunt the waters near the 

 shore. They glitter and flash like living gems, with a 

 delicacy never seen in the world of air. A blenny out 

 of water is a dull, uninteresting thing. How different 

 it is in its element, the water! To look at one is a feast 

 for the eyes, especially when, by its means, we may hope 

 to find out what it really is, especially as regards its 

 powers of vision. 



In European waters, the Mediterranean is the richest 

 in blennies; it has twenty or so species, and, usually, 

 these are found in rocky districts, where rough broken 

 rocks are carpeted by green and brown seaweed, in water 

 where, though the light is softened and attenuated, 

 it is still fairly bright. On their heads, most of them 

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