BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



we boys endeavoured to catch one of these "bearded" 

 fishes. The Loach is an adept at taking cover under a 

 stone, and as it keeps very close to the bottom it is 

 difficult to locate. It belongs to the Cohitidce, and is 

 not distantly related to the Carp. The very small body 

 scales can hardly be discerned even on close examination. 

 The colour may be brownish, greenish, greyish, or 

 yellowish, marbled and spotted ^vith darker colour, with 

 whitish underneath. There are small spots of blackish 

 on the fins. It rarely exceeds 3 to 5 inches in length, 

 and has three pairs of barbels. Night appears to be the 

 feeding-time, as in dayhght the Loach hides itself under 

 stones, and even if dislodged will make haste to take 

 cover under another stone in the near vicinity. The 

 food is made up of the more usual fish diet which has 

 so frequently been mentioned in our account of other 

 species. 



^" *. Vi •«.. «» </«. «a •««. '///>. v.ij 4/7'. "'/,!• t'D' ■■W' 'Uti' t7i>^'/i'i w'i 



^^^.^ «*. .« « « .^. .,, ^. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ 



55 



Spined Loach. — Cohitis tcenia (Fig. 55). This still 



smaller species has the prefix Spined attached to its 



name because of the oossession of a kind of two-forked 



" spine " which is only raised when the fish is moving 



about. When in repose, the spine fits into a small groove 

 100 



