THE AQUARIUM, JANUARY. 1893. 



2: 



TilE CLIMBING PEKCH. 



The fresh waters of India and the 

 islands of the adjoining archipelago, as 

 well as those of Southern Africa, are 

 inhabited by a family of fishes of more 

 than usual interest, which is due not 

 only to the food value of some of its 

 members, but also to the singularity of 

 their habits— their power of enduring 

 a prolonged stay out of their native 

 element. This family is known scien- 

 tifically as the Anabantidae, or fishes 

 with labyrinthiform branchia?. The 

 family name is derived from the generic 

 <lesignation of one of the chief genera, 

 Anabas. The anabantids vary consid- 

 erably in form and peculiarities of 

 structure, but in general appearance 

 resemble such of our fresh water fishes 

 as the sunfishes, grass bass and black 

 bass for instance. In other words they 

 are oblong, laterally compressed fishes, 

 covered with scales of moderate size 

 with ventral fins thoracic, with the 

 dorsal and anal fins with spines anteri- 

 orily and generally in large numbers, 

 and with the uppermost element of the 

 gill-bearing arches peculiarly modified; 

 that is, the uppermost element of each 

 side, instead of being straight and solid 

 as in most fishes, is excessively devel- 

 oped, and provided with several thin 

 plates or folds erect from the surface of 

 the bone and from the roof of the skull 

 to which the bone is attached. These 

 plates by their intersection form cham- 

 bers and are lined with avascular mem- 

 brane which is supplied with large 

 blood vessels, and it was formerly sup- 

 p)osed that the chamber referred to had 

 the office of receiving and retaining 

 supplies of water which should trickle 

 down and keep the gills moist, and 

 such was supposed to be the adaption 

 for the sustentation of life out of water. 

 Some experiments, however, tend to 



throw some doulit upon this alleged 

 function. The climbing perch (Ana- 

 bas scandens, Cuv. and Val.) is perhaps 

 one of the best known species of this 

 family of fishes, and inhabits the fresh 

 waters of India, Malaysia, and the 

 Philippine Islands. This fish has an 

 oblong and slightly compressed body, 

 with a rounded head and inflated cheeks 

 and gullet. It is of a rifle green color, 

 lighter in the abdomen, with four dark 

 vertical diffused bands passing from the 

 back to the abdomen. In the young 

 fish a dark spot is generally present at 

 the base of the tail. The fins are dai'k 

 green, but in clear water tend to be- 

 come reddish. As to its habits. Dr. 

 Francis Day, in the "Fishes of Mala- 

 bar," says that the climbing qualities 

 attributed to it in other parts of India 

 and Ceylon are fully believed in by 

 the inhabitants of Malabar. It is cer- 

 tainly with difficulty, says he, that they 

 can be retained in an aquarium since, 

 unless it is covered, or its summit is 

 upward of a foot above the water, they 

 invariably escape. They are able to 

 progress along the ground in two ways; 

 either by lying flat on their sides, flap- 

 ping their tails, moving their pectoral 

 fins, or else chiefiy by the aid of the 

 latter fins— first one being advanced 

 and then the other. They can erect 

 their fins and likewise their scales at 

 pleasure, even down to those along the 

 basis of the caudal fin. This power of 

 erection, especially as it also exists in 

 the gill covers, would be of great as- 

 sistance did they employ the latter in 

 climbing. The hollow super- bronchial 

 organ, with from two to six laminal 

 (the number of which depend on the 

 age of the specimen,) with fringed val- 

 ances, enables the "climbing perch" 

 to retain water for a considerable time, 

 so that it can mois'ei) its gills and live 



