WHIRLPOOLS 



easily caught than other flying-fishes. One particular 

 species of flying-fish, pecuHar to the Sargasso, is a small 

 creature only two or three inches long, yellowish-brown 

 and therefore practically invisible against the weeds. It 

 lays its eggs in strings resembhng pearl necklaces, which 

 are securely attached to the Sargassum leaves and 

 branches. 



The hatchhngs soon make themselves at home in their 

 jungle home, and drift round with the enormous round- 

 about as it slowly revolves. 



Mixed among the weeds of the Sargasso Sea are 

 hydroids (relatives of jelly-fish and sea-anemones, which 

 grow into branching colonies by budding), snails, the 

 larvae of various open sea fishes and of course of fishes 

 inhabiting the weed, and many kinds of crustaceans in 

 their protective armour. 



The ocean pipe-fish — a relation of the sea-horse and 

 having the same curious ''horse's head" appearance — 

 is another inhabitant of the "sea garden". Pipe-fishes 

 have gills which are disposed in curious tufts on the 

 branchial arches : the gill-cover is a simple plate, and the 

 gill-aperture is very small. The attenuated body is covered 

 with bony plates. No ventral fins exist, and the jaws are 

 united to form a tube or pipe, bearing a small toothless 

 mouth at the tip — the fantastic mouth which gives the 

 fish its name. Its expression can be described as that of 

 a child pursing its lips in expectation of a kiss, or per- 

 haps more accurately as that of a whistling school boy ! 



But the most remarkable feature of the pipe-fish, 

 strangely enough, is not its curious mouth but the pouch- 

 like fold possessed by the males of some species. This fold 

 is situated on the under side of the abdomen and 

 resembles the pouch of a kangaroo, not merely in appear- 

 ance but in its purpose — ^for it carries the pipe-fish's 

 babies around for a little while after birth. The eggs 

 formed in the female fish are delivered into the male 

 fish's pouch. There they hatch out, after which he retains 



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