THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



up by a net be found inside its buoyant glass nursery 

 jealously guarding its babies ! 



The viviparous blennies produce small fry at birth 

 which are perfectly transparent, and which are so fully 

 developed as they leave their mothers that they can swim 

 about freely. The mother blenny will give birth to from 

 two to three hundred at a time; these distending her 

 body so much that when they are ready to emerge 

 (invariably head first) they may be extruded by the 

 slightest pressure on her body. 



The butterfish is a blenny, although its body is usually 

 long and flattened from side to side. It guards its eggs — 

 not being viviparous — by coiling itself completely around 

 them, as it lies compressed into a ball in a hole or empty 

 shell — almost like a cat curled up around her kittens. 

 Because of its small head and fringe of fins the butterfish 

 is sometimes mistaken for a young eel, but it is nearly 

 twice as long (about six inches) as the elvers which swarm 

 up our estuaries at certain times. 



The butterfish has other picturesque names. The two 

 best varieties in American waters are found along 

 America's Atlantic coasts. One is the dollar-fish of the 

 coasts of New York, Massachusetts and Maine. Others 

 are the sheeps-head of Cape Cod, the pumpkin-seed of 

 Connecticut, and the starfish of the Norfolk coasts. Some 

 of these fish swim in company with large jelly-fishes, 

 which protect them from other fishes. But jelly-fishes are 

 the sea's gangsters, with their "stick-'em-up" streamers, 

 threatening other forms of life, so that it is not to be 

 wondered at that their ''protection" of butterfishes often 

 results in the latter getting ''stung", and eventually 

 "liquidated" in return for their misplaced confidence. 



The harvest-fish, however, is one of the butterfish 

 which seems to enjoy special immunity. It is found from 

 Cape Cod southward to Brazil, but is more abundant 

 about the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, where it is called 

 "whiting". It is a delicious little fish for the frying-pan: 



Ii8 



