PERCH-LIKE FISHES 121 



of the food tract by eels have been recorded among other large 

 Perch-like fishes from Ceylon, and dried and shrivelled speci- 

 mens of Blennies and Butter-fishes have been taken from the 

 body-cavities of Cod landed at Grimsby and elsewhere. 

 Generally speaking, an accident of this nature might be 

 expected to cause peritonitis, resulting in the death of the 

 swallower, but sometimes the intruder becomes shrivelled up 

 or walled off by membranes and reduced to a mummified 

 mass, without doing any harm to the " host ". 



Most of the smaller species of Grouper are remarkable for 

 their power of changing their colours almost instantaneously, 

 a power which has earned for them the title of " Chameleons 

 of the Sea " Specimens of the Nassau Grouper, for example, 

 which have been kept in the aquarium at New Yoik, have been 

 seen to show as many as eight different phases of coloration, 

 and the ability of this and of other species of Grouper to assume 

 half a dozen different liveries within the space of a few moments 

 is truly remarkable, and a source of constant wonder to visitors. 

 These colour changes are usually undertaken in order that the 

 fish may be able to harmonize with its surroundings and thus 

 escape detection. Colonel Alcock, in his book, ' A Naturalist 

 in Indian Seas ', records how he was in a boat with a native 

 fisherman who speared one of these fishes, which, when 

 wounded, took shelter in an adjacent clump of coral and there 

 lay concealed. Its close-set, hexagonal red spots bore an 

 almost exact resemblance to the surface of the coral and the 

 fish refused to leave its shelter, and was eventually captured. 

 Dr. Beebe has described a Grouper of a shining blue colour 

 with three broad vertical bands of brown, which swam into 

 a clump of cforal, emerging a few minutes later " clad in 

 brilliant yellow, thickly covered -with black polka-dots " 



Little is known of the breeding habits of these fishes, but 

 most of the species seem to deposit their eggs in fairly shallow 

 water in spring or early summer. 



The flesh is pale and of fair quality, and, on account of their 

 abundance, most of the Groupers are of considerable economic 

 importance. Many of the species possess good fighting 

 qualities when hooked, and consequently give good sport to 

 the sea angler. A Spotted " Jew-fish " of 750 lb. weight has 

 been taken on rod and line off Florida. 



