Fishes (Pisces). jO"? 



now consider the bottom-living Bony-fishes. Most of those in 

 the Aquarium are to be found in tank Nr, 24. 



Tlie Star-gazer, Uranoscopus (fig. 148), is an ugly brown fish 

 with a large thick head and a body tapering off behind like a 

 wedge. The small eyes are placed on the top of the head, hence 

 its name, and the wide mouth is bent upwards. It generally lies 

 buried in the sand and there often practises an ingenious stratagem. 

 It protrudes from its mouth a long worm-like filament, which grows 

 on its lower jaw, and lets it move about in the water. This allures 

 fishes, which are anxious to catch what they suppose to be a 

 worm, but are suddenly gulped in by the Uranoscopus. When 

 disturbed from its sandy retreat, it swims about for a short time, 

 but soon falls to the ground and with its shovel-like fins burrows 

 into the sand again. It is very common in the Bay and is often 

 seen on the market. 



Tlie Weever or Sting-fish, Trachinus (fig. 147), is somewhat 

 similar. It is small and slender and has bright shining eyes. 

 When freshly caught and placed in the Aquarium, it soon drops 

 to the bottom of the tank and buries itself up to the eyes in the 

 sand. When fed, it darts rapidly out of its hiding place and snaps 

 up the food before it has fallen to the ground. At the same time 

 (and also when angered) it erects its dorsal fins, the foremost of 

 which has very sharp and poisonous spines. The wounds they can 

 inflict are dangerous, as they often cause violent inflammation. 



The Fishing-frog or Angler-fish, Lophius (fig. 57), is especially 

 well provided with the means of attracting its prey. It is probabl}^ 

 the most hideous monster among the fishes of the Mediterranean. 

 The enormous flat head occupies almost three quarters of the 

 body, and the wide mouth is provided with rows of murderous- 

 looking teeth. The mud-coloured monster lies half-buried at the 

 bottom of the tank and gazes upwards with its large expression- 

 less eyes, while the small lappets and outgrowths of its lower jaw 

 are moved about at each breath it takes. From time to time 

 it raises the fin-rays of its head as a bait and lets their lappets 

 move about. Thus it is a "Compleat Angler" with rods and bait 

 and is always ready to engulf with its gigantic mouth the any 

 small fish which fall into the Trap. 



A peculiar group of bottom-fish are the Flat-fish, or Pleuro- 

 nectids. Skates are indeed also flat-fish, but flattened in quite 

 another manner. The Skates are flattened from the back to the 

 belly, on which they lie. The true Flat-fish (Plaice, Soles, Turbot, 

 etc.), however, are compressed laterally, that is from one side to 

 the other, and hence lie on one side, the right or the left according 

 to the species. Now many other fish, such as Bass, Herrings, etc. 

 are laterally compressed, and many to no less degree than the 

 Pleuronectids, but the essential difference is this. Whereas the 

 Bass etc. are symmetrical, that is, they look the same from one 



