2o8 A HISTORY OF FISHES 



yellow with some irregular darker markings, the pectoral and 

 caudal fins are bright orange, the remaining fins yellowish, 

 and the long filamentous rays of the pectorals bright vermilion 

 red. A little coral-reef fish (Amphiprion) belonging to the 

 family of Desmoiselles (Pomacentridae) has a ground colour of 

 vi\id orange, and the head and body are crossed by three 

 broad bands of pale blue, each edged with darker blue or 

 black; the fins are mostly of a lemon shade with narrow borders 

 of black. A closely related species is coloured deep chocolate 

 and the cross-bands are of bright yellow shading to orange at 

 their margins. 



Finally, there is a species of Trunk-fish (Ostracion) from the 

 Barrier Reef, which for the resplendence of its hues and bizarre 

 markings perhaps surpasses any other fish. The male and female 

 are coloured quite diflferently, and were at first looked upon as 

 distinct species. The body of the male is grass green on the 

 sides and back, becoming lemon-yellow on the belly: the sides 

 of the trunk and head are traversed by broad, somewhat 

 irregular and broken bands of brilliant ultramarine blue, the 

 edges of which are picked out by deep chocolate brown lines. 

 Some of these blue bands are continued on to the caudalfin, 

 where they form curled, loop-like patterns. The yellow belly 

 is variegated by a network of pale blue lines. The caudal 

 fin is orange or dark yellow, the remaining fins of a neutral 

 colour and transparent. The female has a pale, pinkish-grey, 

 or doveground colour, with local flushes of a more decided pink, 

 and a pure yellow belly : the bands running along the body are 

 here unbroken, and of a rich reddish-brown shade, and at the 

 bases of the pectoral and dorsal fins they form a curious 

 irregular spiral pattern. 



In many species the general coloration, and particularly the 

 characteristic markings in the form of bars, stripes, spots and 

 blotches, are remarkably constant in all the individuals of a 

 particular species, but in others there is a good deal of individual 

 variation, and in the Trunk-fishes just described it is extremely 

 rare to find two specimens exactly alike in the manner in which 

 the bands on the body are arranged. Professor Jordan has 

 described some of the remarkable colour variations found in a 

 species of Sea Perch from the West Indies known as the Vaca 

 [Hypoplectrus) . Generally, the ground colour is orange, with 

 black marks and blue lines, the fins being chequered with 

 orange and blue. "In a second form," he writes, "the body is 

 violet, barred with black, the head with blue spots and bands. 



