132 A HISTORY OF FISHES 



It is even maintained with great earnestness that such is the 

 gluttony of this fish, that when the stomach becomes full the 

 contents are disgorged and then again filled." It has been 

 estimated that as many as one thousand million of Blue-fishes 

 occurs annually in the summer season on the Atlantic coasts 

 of the United States, and, allowing a ration of ten fish per 

 day to each Blue-fish, no less than 10,000,000,000 fish are 

 thus destroyed each day, whilst about 1,200,000,000,000,000 

 are accounted for in a season lasting only one hundred and 

 twenty days. This estimate applies only to adult fish, and 

 if we take into account the young Blue-fishes, which vie with 

 their parents in the work of butchery, the total will be very 

 much greater. They seem to pay particular attention to the 

 Menhaden {Brevoortia) , sometimes driving shoals of them to 

 the shore where they may be seen piled up in rows. 



Among other ferocious fishes may be mentioned the Lancet- 

 fish {Alepidosaurus) , found in the depths of the oceans, a swift, 

 scaleless fish with powerful jaws armed with knife-like teeth 

 (Fig. 56F). A specimen has been described from the stomach 

 of which was taken "several octopods, crustaceans, ascidians, a 

 young Brama, twelve young Boar-fishes (Capros), a Horse 

 Mackerel, and one young of its own species." Another one 

 from Alaska had no less than twenty-one Lump Suckers 

 (Cyclopterus) in its stomach. In spite of its small size, the 

 ubiquitous Stickleback (Gasterosteus) is remarkably bold and 

 greedy, being especially destructive to the spawn and young 

 fry of other fishes. In five hours a single Stickleback is said to 

 have devoured seventy-four young Dace, each about a quarter 

 of an inch long, and two days afterwards it swallowed sixty- two. 



Other fish-eaters, such as the well-known Barracudas (Sphy- 

 raena), have the powerful jaws armed with flattened, sharp- 

 edged, dagger-like teeth (Fig. 55d). These fishes are found 

 in nearly all tropical and subtropical seas, and the larger kinds 

 grow to a length of eight feet or more, and attain a weight of 

 about one hundred pounds. In form they bear a marked 

 likeness to the Pike, but this resemblance is purely superficial. 

 The large fishes seem to be generally solitary in their habits, 

 although the young congregate in shoals. The large species 

 found in the West Indies, known as the Picuda or Becune, is 

 much more feared by the inhabitants than any Shark, since 

 it is not only extremely ferocious, but also utterly fearless. 

 Further, it is much more liable to attack man without provoca- 

 tion than the Shark, and will not hesitate to molest bathers, 



