THE FISHES OF THE RIVER HULL. 13 
are in all probability pumped up out of the smaller drains into 
the river by one or other of the centrifugal pumps, of which there 
are three along its course. The spines of the stickleback no 
doubt prevent it falling a prey to small enemies, but it owes its 
immunity to the fact that it lives in shallow becks and ditches, 
which of course are unsuitable situations for the larger fish. 
Small pike, however, are often found in these becks, and the 
stickleback falls an easy prey to them. If a pike, taken in water 
in which there are sticklebacks, be opened, and the contents of 
its stomach examined, there will often be found a ball of spines 
in a semi-digested state, and this in a pike eight or ten inches 
long, and weighing perhaps only five or six ounces. The 
probability is that these spines are the residue of not more than 
three days’ meals, as the powerful intestinal juices would very 
soon dissolve the cartilaginous matter of which the spines are 
composed. 
The Burgor is occasionally found in the Hull, but during the 
last few years very few instances of its occurrence have come 
under observation. ‘ Ike,” a well-known professional fisherman, 
informs me he has in previous years caught as many as ten during 
one night’s fishing. The largest specimen I have seen taken 
weighed 2lbs., and was caught on a night line baited with a dead 
fish. 
The FLATFISH, or FLOUNDER, is found plentifully in the River 
Hull. There can be no more interesting sight than to watch 
flattish swimming about, which they invariably do with their white 
sides to the mud, undulation following undulation on their 
continuous fins in a very graceful manner. I once saw one 
chasing a number of minnows, and though I could not ascertain 
whether it caught them, I could plainly see they had no mean 
enemy to contend with. It is, however, a most stupid fish, as 
the following experience, which has often occurred to myself, will 
testify. I have walked along Cottingham Beck in the sunshine, 
and have noticed by the usual indications the place where a 
flatfish has buried himself in the mud. My next proceeding was 
to sit quietly by so as to accustom the fish to my presence. Then 
I deliberately but cautiously raised his head out of the mud with 
the end of my rod, and after giving him a moment or two’s rest, 
placed a lively worm attached to my line in front of his nose. 
He would watch it for a few seconds, and then quietly suck it 
into his mouth, with the result that a rapid change took place in 
the density of his breathing medium. Flounders are occasionally 
found partly albino on the dusky side in our river, and specimens 
are not very infrequent with the eyes on the left side instead of 
the right, and the gill covers reversed. 
