Some Oddities of Fish-life 



Snipe-fish might be mistaken for first cousin to 

 a Snipe. 



There is also the Pelican-fish, an inhabitant 

 of deep-water. It has a mouth of portentous 

 dimensions, with a huge pelican-like pouch 

 hanging loosely below. Little is known of its 

 habits ; but it is supposed to swim about near 

 the ocean-bed, with its enormous jaws extended 

 in a stereotyped yawn, taking food in a vast 

 and wholesale fashion. 



Another oddity, known as the Spook, though 

 not interesting in its ways, has a most " bizarre " 

 look. Its body is long and winding, almost 

 like that of an eel ; its fins are large ; its eyes 

 are big ; and, judging from its picture, its head 

 seems to be a cross between that of a fish and 

 that of a quadruped. 



Among innumerable fish gormandisers one 

 particular specimen carries off the palm, and 

 might win the first prize in a world-wide com- 

 petition for excellence in voracity. 



The Black Swallower, most appropriately 

 named, manages, at least now and then, to 

 accomplish the rare feat of swallowing a morsel 

 many times larger than itself. It is a fish of 

 slender make ; but after such a meal the slender- 

 ness disappears. 



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