Little Stories of Strange Fishes 329 



for the late Dr. A. B. Stout in San Francisco. Dr. Stout 

 gave an address in the Academy of Sciences against the 

 practice of naming the animals and plants in honor of men. 

 In response to this, this fish, hitherto unknown, was named 

 Stouti. It is now one of the names noted in science, for 

 anatomy of low and degraded forms of this sort possesses 

 a special interest to scientific men. By the study of such 

 forms we get the key to the understanding of the complex 

 structures of the higher forms. 



One of the common food fishes of the markets of Southern 

 California is the roncador, which its discoverer, Dr. Stein- 

 dachner, named for the well-known California naturalist, 

 Robert E. C. Stearns. It is a large gray fish, with firm 

 scales, and from other familiar fishes it is at once dis- 

 tinguished by a large black spot in the axil of the pectoral 

 fin. It is a good food fish, sometimes taken with a hook, 

 more often with the seine on sandy beaches. 



The Spanish name roncador, from roncar to make a rough 

 noise, like the English names croker and grunt, is given to 

 numerous fishes of this tribe on account of the noise they 

 make in the water. The air-bladder is large and of several 

 parts, and it is supposed that this noise is made by forcing 

 air from one compartment to another. But this has not 

 been certainly proved. In the California roncador the throat 

 teeth or pharyngeals are very large, suitable for crushing 

 crabs and snails. At least part of the noise is produced by 

 the grating of these sets of teeth one upon another. Numer- 

 ous fishes of similar character are found in Southern Cal- 

 ifornia, and still more in Mexico. All of them make some 

 sort of a noise, and all are good as food, some of them most 

 excellent. 



Under the flat, shelving rocks at the end of Point Loma, 

 near San Diego, lives the most singular of all fishes. It is 

 about two inches long, sleek, smooth and plump, light pink 

 in color, and with a sucking disk composed of the united 

 ventral fins. By this it fastens itself to the dark side of 



