96 THE SEAS 



under surface. By pulling on the rope, the boat and turtle 

 can then be brought close together and the turtle captured. 

 At times, however, the turtle dives, and the Remora does 

 not stick fast enough to allow sufficient strain to be put 

 on to the rope to lift the turtle which clings hard to the 

 bottom. Under such circumstances the native locates 

 the exact position of the turtle by means of the string and 

 then dives down himself and secures it with a rops. The 

 practice has been studied in the region of the Torres Straits 

 very thoroughly by Prof. A. C. Haddon, who says : " The 

 sucker-fish is not used to haul in the large green turtles ; 

 I was repeatedly assured that it would pull off, as the turtle 

 was too heavy ; but small ones were caughc in this manner." 

 He goes into full details of the attachment of the leash to 

 the fish and says, "I was informed that in leashing a 

 sucker-fish, a hole is made at the base of the tail-fin by 

 means of a turtle-bone and one end of a very long piece of 

 string inserted through the hole and made fast to the tail, 

 the other end being permanently retain 3d. A short piece 

 of string is passed through the mouth and out at the gills, 

 thus securing the head end. By means of these two strings 

 the fish is retained, while slung over the sides of the canoe, 

 in the water (Fig. i6). The short piece is pulled out of the 

 mouth of the fish when the turtle is sighted and the gapu is 

 free to attach itself to the turtle." And after this, according 

 to Prof. Haddon, the sucker-fish is eaten at the end of the 

 day! 



Avery curious modification of a fin -ray is to be found in the 

 common Angler Fish or Fishing Frog {Lophius piscatorius). 

 In this case the front ray of the back fin is very elongated 

 and bears at its tip a little tuft of filaments. The fish is 

 truly named an Angler Fish for by means of this fin-ray it 

 angles for its prey, which is lured on by the worm-like 

 waving filaments. Even more curious are the near relatives 



