138 COASTAL FISH 



the families so prominent in our own waters — turbots, flounders, and 

 soles — and of a family of sole-like but narrower and more elongated 

 flatfishes, Cynoglossidce. 



Turning to the mail-cheeked fishes, we note the complete absence of 

 bullheads but on the other hand a wealth of scorpion-fishes (Scorpwnidce), 

 a family represented in our waters almost exclusively by the Norway 

 haddock (Sebastes). The scorpion-fishes have a more normal fish form 

 than the bullheads, being more like perch, but they are often liberally 

 equipped with spines, spikes, and crests on the head, and frayed skin 

 flaps all over, in addition to some very strong fin spines. It is wise to 

 avoid these creatures, as they can be very painful and even poisonous, 

 well deserving their name. Their colours are often brilliant reds, which 

 may be taken as warning signals. In other cases they will present a 

 motley of irregular brownish spots, light as well as dark. These are 

 camouflage colours which make them extremely difficult to detect among 

 the stones and rocks which they frequent. 



Even more closely associated with the bottom is another group of mail- 

 cheeked fishes, the flatheads (Platycephalidce) . These are elongated fish 

 with a flat, pointed head, upturned eyes, and a flattened body. They fre- 

 quent the sandy bottom, where they cover themselves in sand like the 

 flatfishes. As they are very numerous and grow to a respectable size, they 

 are important commercial fish. 



Some of the most interesting fish, from the point of view of natural 

 history, which we encountered were the star-gazers (Uranoscopus), which 

 are related to our native weavers (Trachinus). They are rather clumsily 

 built and have a large, angular head with small eyes placed close together 

 on the top and a completely vertical mouth. They have the habit of 

 burying themselves in the sand with only mouth and eyes showing. They 

 live on small animals, which they entice by sticking out from the mouth 

 a red or white filament or skin-flap which resembles a worm. They are 

 well protected both by their greyish colour and by their ability to inflict 

 a painful shock by means of electric organs behind the eyes, formed by 

 a modification of part of the eye musculature. 



We found a variety of eels, besides the snake eel and muraena already 

 mentioned. These last included the pompa (Thyrsoidca macrura), which, 

 with a length of over three metres, is probably the longest known eel in 

 the world. It is common from East Africa to Indonesia. Worthy of men- 

 tion also are various conger eels (Congridce) and the worm-shaped Hete- 

 renchelys microphthalmus, which was exceedingly common all along the 

 coast of tropical West Africa, where we usually took it in the grab. As 



