14 FISHES 



THE FISH'S PLACE IN NATURE. 



DAVID STARR JORDAN. 



SOME animals have their hard parts carp or a herring. Still, on the whole, 

 on the ; outside. These may be a horny the backboned animals are the highest 

 coat or skin, such as the beetle has, or a and as you and I both belong to that class 

 double shell, like the oyster's, or a single we could never afford to confess to any 

 shell, like the house of a snail. Or they doubts as to their superiority, 

 may be a hard crust, like the lobster's But we are the highest of the type 

 oat of mail, or a brittle crust, like the that is, we men and the rest of the tribe 

 sea-urchin's, or with tough nodules on a are all lower. And the lowest of all back- 

 leathery hide, as in the star-fish, or any boned animals we call fishes. And we 

 one of a hundred variations from these. shall know a fish when we see one be- 

 But in all such cases there is no back- cause the hard parts or skeleton are on 

 bone, no true skeleton and no real skull, the inside, and he stays in the water, 



Then there are a host of animals that breathing the air which is dissolved in it, 



have their hard parts on the inside. When and he has never any toes or claws or 



this is the case the animal has a regular feathers. He breathes with gills and he 



head, generally with a skull inside to pro- swims with fins. He has no hair or feath- 



tect a brain from hard knocks. ers on his body and when he has any 



Then behind the skull is a backbone cover on his skin at all it takes the shape 

 made up of a number of separate joints of of scales. A fish is a water backboned 

 bone. To the skeleton other bones are animal. A backboned animal is called a 

 attached to help the animal to move him- vertebrate. A fish is therefore a water- 

 self about on land or in the water. Some- vertebrate. 



times these bones grow out as legs, with There were fishes before there were 



toes and claws at the tip of them. Some- any other kind of vertebrates. They have 



times they take the form of wings or they been on the earth longer than birds or 



may spread out into flat paddles or oars beasts or reptiles. They came first, and 



of one kind or another, and these we call we have good reason to believe that the 



fins. What shape the parts take depends fishes are the ancestors of all the others, 



on what the animal does with them, for But when the forefathers of the land 



every kind of beast is built with direct animals found means of keeping alive on 



reference to his business in life. the land, so many new opportunities 



The backboned animals are the highest opened out to them and they found so 



of all the animal kingdom. That is, in much variety in their surroundings, that 



general ; they can do more things, they they throve and spread amazingly. And 



have a greater variety of relations to the there came to be many kinds of them, 



things around them, and they are more of many forms, while the rest of the tribe 



definitely fitted for a high position. Some kept in the water and stayed fishes, 



of them are not very high nor very intel- And there was always a host of these, 



ligent, even as compared with their lower and nearly all of them had fishes for their 



brethren, the insects. The ant is a tiny food. So they fought for food and 



creature, with no skull and no backbone, fought for place. Those who could swim 



and cannot do any very big thing. But fastest got away from the rest, and those 



she 'is a very wise beast by the side of a who could move quickest got the most to 



