HAWAIIAN FISHES 



I. Introduction 



Fishes are one of the most interesting and fascinating groups of 

 animals on earth. Whether they are observed swimming happily about in 

 nature, fighting for their life at the end of a hook, or delicately served 

 upon your dinner plate, they have few equals among the animals in 

 captivating and holding the attention of young and old. 



Fishes live in a vivid and colorful world all of their own. We know 

 comparatively little about the homes of the fishes for very few of us ever 

 venture beneath the water's surface to study our cold-blooded cousins in 

 their natural habitat. We prefer, instead, to see our fishes through glass, 

 from boats and piers, in nets, or frying pans and are content to learn 

 nothing more about them. 



Fishes Are Well Adapted for Life in the Water 

 Most fishes must depend on their ability to swim for both their life 

 and their livelihood. They are consequently as nearly perfectly stream- 

 lined as any animals on earth. Since the water in which they live offers 

 much more resistance to movement than does air, it requires much more 

 effort for them to move about than we realize. To accomplish this, fishes 

 are equipped with powerful muscles. The strongest of these muscles 

 operates the tail and its caudal fin which are used for both propulsion and 

 for steering. 



In addition to the tail, one or two dorsal fins in the midline of the 

 back and an anal fin in the midline of the lower side help to steer and 

 to propel the fish. A pair of pectoral fins, corresponding to our arms, are 

 located on the sides of the body just behind the head. A pair of ventral 

 fins are located on the lower surface of the body at varying points ranging 

 from joist behind the head to just in front of the tail. These paired fins 

 are used in leisurely swimming and help to keep the body erect. 



The head of the fish is covered with bony plates or scales and contains 

 a pair of eyes, a set of nostrils, and a mouth. Fishes lack the sense of 

 hearing as we know it, but they are thought to hear by means of minute 



