304 LIFE BY THE SEASHORE. 



the beach the colours are striking enough, being dark above 

 and white below; but it is said that in aquaria the fish 

 show remarkable resemblance to the surroundings, and even 

 when not buried are very inconspicuous. In the anterior 

 regions especially, the sides of the body are furnished with 

 fringed filaments, which resemble fragments of weed, and 

 must assist the process of concealment. 



Apart from the lure the angler has many striking peculiar- 

 ities of form, most of which are obviously adaptations to 

 the peculiar habit. Thus, while the pelvic fins are small 

 and short, the pectoral are strong and remarkably modified, 

 so that the fish can use them to progress over the bottom, 

 or to excavate cavities in which the body may be concealed. 

 The reason why the arm-like fins are used in creeping along 

 the bottom, instead of the same result being produced by 

 strokes of the tail as in most fish, is supposed to be that 

 the former produces a silent, or rather waveless mode of 

 progression, which is more in harmony with the habit of 

 stalking the prey than rapid motion accompanied by dis- 

 turbance of the water would be. The motion is greatly 

 assisted by the somewhat elaborate articulation of the fins, 

 which makes great freedom of movement possible. Again, 

 the great mouth is furnished with numerous incurved teeth, 

 which permit of very free entrance, but no exit. This is 

 not always an unalloyed advantage to the angler, however, 

 for it has been known to swallow such things as stone 

 sinkers, cork buoys, hooked fish, and even the ends of boat- 

 hooks or mops, and being unable to readily reject them 

 again has been ignominiously captured. But to the tales of 

 the power and feats of the angler there are verily no end, 

 for its habits have always aroused intense interest from the 

 time of Aristotle to the present day. 



It is perhaps hardly necessary to describe in detail the 

 other peculiarities of structure, for the huge head, with its 

 dangling filaments, makes the animal easy to recognise. Its 

 interest is that it illustrates, to an even more striking 

 degree than the species of Coitus, how the typical fish-shape 

 may be lost as an adaptation to a special mode of life. 



Another interesting fish, sometimes thrown up in hundreds 

 on the beach in spring, is Cyclopterus lumpus, the lump- 

 sucker, a curious unwieldy animal, interesting on account 



