FISH 



2185 



FISH 



back, which builds a carefully plastered nest 

 of sticks. Many other fishes build nests, in- 

 cluding the lumpsuckers, a deep-sea fish, the 

 chubs, and the sunfishes. The chub usually 

 heaps up a pile of pebbles, on which the eggs 

 are laid; then more stones are piled on top. 

 The sunfish's nest is scarcely worthy of the 

 name, for it is nothing more than a shallow 

 cup scooped out in the sand; yet the sunfish 

 will fight valiantly to defend it. Then there 

 is the Antennarius, or frog fish; the male is 

 said to pick up the eggs and blow them from 

 his mouth, along with many bubbles of mucus. 

 These bubbles harden and form a light, float- 

 ing nest. 



The variety of fishes is almost beyond com- 

 prehension. Among the 13,000 different kinds, 

 there are tiny fishes and giants, fat ones and 

 thin ones, round ones and triangular ones all 

 possible shapes, sizes and colors. From the 

 minnow to the shark there are thousands of 

 varieties. The man-eating sharks average 

 thirty to thirty-five feet in length, but in the 

 tropics there is one species which grows to a 

 length of sixty or seventy feet. Then there 

 is the great oarfish, twenty to twenty-two 

 feet long and weighing over 500 pounds; 

 though large, it is the opposite of the shark, 

 for it is stupid and defenseless, and has a 

 body which resembles a tough jelly in con- 

 sistency and is almost transparent. Some 

 fishes, like the great weever, are protected 

 by poisonous spines, while others, the electric 

 fishes, shock any living thing with which they 

 come into contact. The electric eel of South 

 America, for example, is powerful enough to 

 stun a man. The swordfish and the sawfish 

 have remarkable jaws, which they use not 

 merely for defense but for catching food. 



As a rule the fishes of the tropics are more 

 brilliantly colored and show more variations 

 than the fishes of temperate zones. For ex- 

 ample, there are the parrot fishes of the Med- 

 iterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean; among 

 them bright greens and reds are the predom- 

 inating colors. One of the most beautiful of 

 those is the flame-colored scorpaena miles, a 

 Ceylon fish which has no English name; the 

 Singhalese call it ratoo gini maha, which means 

 great red fire. 



Even in temperate zones there are remark- 

 able fishes. There are the blind fishes of 

 Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; once they had 

 eyes, but from ages of disuse the organ of 

 sight has decayed. There are the many vari- 

 eties of flying-fishes. One of the most remark- 



able of all fishes is the salmon, which lives 

 both in fresh water and in salt water. It trav- 

 els anywhere from twenty to a hundred miles 

 or more in the course of a season, and when 

 spawning season comes ascends some river to 

 lay eggs. It is on the rivers that the salmon 

 perform some of their astounding feats, leap- 

 ing upward ten or twelve feet, and in this way 

 ascending a river even above falls and other 

 obstacles. There is also the climbing-perch, 

 which occasionally travels short distances over- 

 land, is known to climb low bushes and has 

 even been said to climb trees. 



Even the common fishes, many of which 

 every child knows, have peculiarities which are 

 as interesting as those of distant places. Some 

 of them like cold water; some, like the sun- 

 fishes, prefer the water to be warm. Some, 

 like the familiar chubs, have been known to 

 bury themselves in mud at the beginning of 

 winter and hibernate; others, like the pickerel, 

 are hungry and active in winter, and can be 

 caught with a hook and line dropped through 

 a hole in the ice. There is scarcely a single 

 species of fish which will not repay intelligent 

 study. 



Fish as Food. From the earliest days of 

 history fish has formed an important part of 

 human diet, and at the present day is eaten in 

 every country in the world. Fresh water and 

 salt water fish are equally wholesome, and 

 any preference for one over the other is the 

 result of individual taste. Fresh fish" is usually 

 eaten boiled, fried or baked. A large quantity 

 of the annual catch of fish is preserved by 

 being salted, dried and smoked, or canned. 

 These processes considerably change the taste 

 but add to the food value of the fish and de- 

 duct a large portion of waste and water. 



The widespread idea that fish is more easily 

 digested than any other meat is not correct. 

 The digestibility of fresh fish such as cod, 

 mackerel, bass, turbot and others of the com- 

 mon food fishes, is equal to that of good lean 

 beef. Salted fish is not so easily digested, but 

 the percentage of protein absorbed from a 

 pound of salt fish is greater than the percent- 

 age from the same quantity of beef (see PRO- 

 TEINS). Much has been written about the 

 danger of poisoning attending the use of 

 canned fish. Modern methods of canning and 

 scrupulous cleanliness in all the processes of 

 preservation have so reduced the danger of 

 ptomaine poisoning that practically it does 

 not exist. Care should be taken, however, to 

 remove the contents of the can immediately 



