Fishes of the Coral Seas 6i 



turn the big octopuses inside out by a dexterous jerk, 

 thus disabling them so that they can handily be carried 

 alive. 



Many fishes of the coral reefs show protective coloring 

 in the highest degree. Such species usually lie quiescent on 

 the bottom, the general hue being a blotched or mottled gray. 

 But in all the pools abound species which give defiance to 

 all notions of mimicry or protective coloration. There are 

 damsel-fishes, locally called Taupou (the exact cognate of 

 the West Indian names, Damsel, Demoiselle, and Doncella), 

 of every shade of blue except dull shades, and marked with 

 vivid golden or scarlet dashes. These fishes save them- 

 selves by excessive quickness and their power of darting 

 into small crevices. Apparently they have no need of pro- 

 tective coloration, and have no fear of any enemies in the 

 reefs. Everywhere about the reefs abound butterfly-fishes, 

 with bright yellow as a ground color, fantastically striped or 

 streaked or spotted with blue or black. Bizarre rainbow 

 fishes, each species bearing streaks or marks of every possi- 

 ble color, abound everywhere, and in all the deeper pools are 

 crimson soldier-fishes, parrot-fishes, and surgeon-fishes, al- 

 most all of them colored as brilliantly as fish pigment can 

 make them. No birds, and no flowers of any land are 

 colored more gayly than the fishes of the Samoan reefs. In 

 the open waters we find fishes of the usual protective shades, 

 blue-green above, and silvery below, while in the rivers, the 

 fishes are green speckled, and colored like the stones. It 

 is only within the retreats of the great reef that the mad riot 

 of color develops itself. 



If you study the reef-fishes in detail, you will find creep- 

 ing through all the interstices in the coral itself, little green 

 gobies, the largest half an inch long, and little brick-red 

 blennies no bigger than the gobies, and just as evasive. Our 

 Samoan boy, Afele, had a little boat we called the Coral 

 Queen. He would dive in the bay for the coral heads, then 

 laying them in the boat he would crack them with a ham- 



