WEAVERS AND FROG- FISHES 



227 





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phoso 6f W. SavilU-K.-r.i, F.Z.S ] 



SUCKING-KISH 



By means of the sucker on the top oj iti head thujiih attachei itielf to ships an J larger fishes 



[MUforJ onSra 



species is declared to be excellent eatiiiLj. The Star-GAZER is a particularly ugly-looking fish, 

 especially noteworthy in that the eyes, which are on the top of the head, can be raised 

 and depressed at pleasure, whilst the heav}- jaw is armed with a freely moving tentacle, which, 

 waving about in the current of water drawn in at the mouth, serves as a lure to attract small 

 fishes, the rest of the bods' being concealed between stones at the bottom of the sea. 



The CoMMOX Weaver is a well-known British fish, much dreaded on account of the 

 poisonous wounds which it inflicts unless most carefully handled, the poison being introduced 

 by the spines of the back-fin and gill-cover. No special poison-organs seem to be developed, 

 but the mucous secretion around the spines has poisonous properties. As the flesh of this fish 

 is extremely palatable, fishermen remove the spines at once directl)' after capture. Should a 

 wound be inflicted, great suffering and occasionally death follows. 



Passing over one or two unimportant groups, we come to the family of the Frog-FISHES, 

 which, but for the fact that many of its members are poisonous, calls for no special comment 

 here. One species, however, from the coasts of Central America, possesses the distinction of 

 having the most highly de\-eloped poison-organs' of any fishes, being equalled only by the 



P*»I« 67 Riinha d Thill, &• C.a'\ 



\_Chanur, Ljn-, IV.C 



LARGER WEAVER 



The spines of the first hack-fin and of the gill-cover are highly poisonous 



