TP^LEOSTOMI 217 



pelvic fins, and a rudimentary tail fin. The mouth is at the end 

 of a long muzzle. 



The pipe-fish resembles the seaweed and has the power of 

 changing color to suit its environment. It feeds upon small 

 Crustacea knd moUusca. It is found on Ijoth European and 

 American shores. 



Fig. 180. — Exonautcs gilhcrti. Type. (Bulletin .546, U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion.) 



The sea-horse (Fig. 181) has the muzzle at nearly a right 

 angle with the rest of the trunk, giving it a fanciful resemblance 

 to the head of a horse. It swims slowly by means of its dorsal 

 fins. It wraps its slender curling tail about seaweeds and roots, 

 and thus avoids being transported, unless perchance the seaweed 

 is floating, when the fish is carried far away from its birthplace. 

 It resembles the seaweeds among which it lives — an Austra- 

 lian species having reddish streaming filaments resembling 

 plants. 



Economic Importance. — Fishes have been of great value since 

 primitive times, liut the various methods of preserving them by 

 drying and canning has greatly added to their importance, for 

 they can now be shipped to any part of the world. Prol^ably 

 salmon, cod, and herring are of the greatest value. The lake 

 and river trout, the white fish, catfish, the black, white, and 

 rock bass, and the perches are important fresh-water fishes, 



