2734 



THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



Pilot Fish 



Another genus is represented by the pelagic pilot fish (Naucrates 

 ductor), which takes it name from a supposed habit of guiding and 

 protecting the sharks and ships which it accompanies. Having no plates on the 

 lateral line, this fish is further characterized by the rounded under surface of the 

 body, by the first dorsal fin being composed in the adult of detached spines, by the 

 absence of finlets, and the presence of a keel on each side of the tail. When adult, 

 the pilot fish measures about a foot in length. In color, it is bluish, with five or six 

 dark vertical bands; the tail fin sometimes having the ends of its two lobes dark, 

 as also a band across the middle third. Ranging over all temperate and tropical 

 seas, pilot fish were regarded as sacred by the ancients, by whom they were known 

 2&pompili; the common belief being that when the ship neared land, the fish sud- 

 denly disappeared, and thus gave warning to the sailors of impending danger. 

 Many legends have grown in later times as to how pilot fish will prevent sharks 

 from taking a bait by swimming round them and enticing them away; but all these 



PILOT FISH. 



appear to be pure fictions, and perhaps the best account of the real habits of the 

 fish is one by Dr. Meyen, from which the following summary is taken. It appears 

 that the pilot fish constantly swims in front of the shark, sometimes coming close 

 to its muzzle or front fins as it approaches a ship, and sometimes darting sidewise 

 or forward for a short distance, and then returning to the side of the larger ship. 

 In one instance, where a baited hook was thrown over the ship's side, the pilot fish 

 rushed up, and after swimming close to the bait, returned to the shark, and by 

 swimming and splashing round it appeared to be attracting its attention. Soon after 

 the shark began to move, with the pilot fish in front, and was almost immediately 

 hooked. Instead of the pilot fish taking care of the shark it would rather seem to 

 frequent the company of the latter for the sake of the fragments of food and other 

 substances to be found in its neighborhood ; and it is doubtless for the same reason 

 that these fishes follow ships. In summer, pilot fish will not unfrequently accom- 

 pany vessels into the southern British harbors; but their purely pelagic habits are 



