ANGLER FISHES — GILL. 603 



J. E. Ives (1889) has extended the theory of adaijtation to an 

 extreme. According to him 



The ground color of the fish is of a pale yellow, and on this light background 

 are darker irregular brownish bands, closely resembling the branched fronds of 

 the sargasso weed. Along the edges of these darker bands, on the bands them- 

 selves, and also to a lesser extent upon the rest of the body, are little white 

 specks of various sizes, on an average about that of a pin's head, and on the 

 dorsal spines, are numerous leaflike cutaneous filaments. 



Mr. Ives, " after careful consideration, had come to the conchision 

 that the color markings of the fish, and the cutaneous filaments, had 

 been developed in mimicry of the Spirorbis-covered sargassum weed." 



The sargassum, be it remarked, is one of the fucaceous algse or 

 seaweeds and is also known as " sargazo "' or " sargasso," " gulf weed," 

 " sea lentil," " sea grape." Sargassum hacciferuin is the specific name 

 mostly given to the kind in question. According to Harvej^, " the 

 floating fronds generally grow from a central point, from which 

 branches extend in all directions. In such specimens the base appears 

 to be a fragment of broken branch, rather than a true disciform root." 

 Air vessels are very nmnerous and '' about as big as peas." These 

 " air vessels " or '' bladders " buoy up the sargassum on the surface of 

 the sea. The plant increases indefinitely by " the continual breaking 

 up of the old fronds and the continued growth of their broken parts," 

 and '* the floating masses spread over the surface of the seas. In this 

 floating state the species never forms proper fructification " and 

 " there is, therefore, no growth from spores." 



Although floating on the high seas and thus at the mercy of the 

 winds and waves, nevertheless, those agents operate in such a manner, 

 in conjunction with the currents, that, for j^^ear after year and century 

 after century, nearly the same areas of the ocean are covered by the 

 plant. It is, Harvey justly remarks, " curious that the great bank 

 which extends between the twentieth and forty-fifth [?] parallels of 

 north latitude, and in 40° W. from Greenwich, appears to occupy the 

 same position at the present time as it did in the days of Columbus," 

 who first described it. Persistent as it is, a considerable fauna has 

 been developed characteristic of the sargassum or sargasso meadows. 



The animals that find homes in such quarters represent most of the 

 classes of which species are found along the shores of continents and 

 islands, such as crustaceans, gastropods, cephalopods, and fishes, and 

 all these may be relied upon for food if they approach within reach 

 of the Pterophryne. Some of the most characteristic of these are 

 swimming crabs (Portunids) of the genus Neptunus and the squar- 

 ish grapsid named Planes minutus; small cuttle fishes of the genus 

 Onychia^ and fishes of the pipefish family (Siphostoma) and amber 

 fish {Seriola). Flying fishes of different kinds are also tenants of 

 those fields, although they may^ rarely show themselves in the air. 



