A Magician Among the Fishes 



I 'I" IS (l()iilitlt'>s irur tluu ihere are no 

 iiK-rniaids in llie sea and no Neptune 

 with crown and Howing locks, but the 

 species of life that do exist there are in 

 many ways e(|uall\' as interesting as the 

 mythological folk. Take the little puffer 

 fish, for exam- 

 ple, which has 

 attracted the 

 attention of 

 scientists from 

 earliest times 

 on account of 

 its shrewd hab- 

 it of defending 

 itself by infla- 

 tion. The mo- 

 ment it scents 

 danger in the 

 form of a larger 

 fish, searching 

 for a dinner, it 

 instantly dis- 

 tends itself 

 with water un- 

 til it becomes 

 almost spher- Above: 

 ical in shape, l^^^^^^ 

 sothatnoordi- shape. 



nary fish could There are 

 swallowit. l)i- numerous 



rector H. C. ^P^^'<=^. 

 Townsend of ,„ 

 the New York 

 A(|uarium, placed 

 a few good-sized 

 scup, or porgies, 

 in a tank whicli 

 contained a do/.en 

 young puffers 

 about two inches 

 in length, which 

 the hungn,' scuj) 

 attacked at once. 

 InstantK' thebabx 

 jjuffers inflate( 

 themselves and 

 became almost 

 globular in form, 

 so thai the larger 

 fish were unable lo 

 do more than 

 knock lliem about 

 like tov balloons 



varying 

 size 



too large to be swallowed, and on which 

 they could get no hold whatever. 



The puffers arc of many species, many 

 of them reaching a length of about two 

 feet, most of the larger kinds being found 

 onK in the large ri\iTs of the trojiics. 



When caught 

 n nets and 

 dragged ashore 

 they inflate 

 t h e m s e 1 \' e s 

 with air just 

 as with water 

 when in the 

 sea, making a 

 slight sucking 

 sound until 

 their skins are 

 as tight as 

 drums. They 

 remain inflated 

 until thrown 

 back into the 

 water and can 

 be knocked 

 about on the 

 beach like rub- 

 ber balls with- 

 out a particle 

 of air escaping. 

 E V e n w hen 

 thrown back 

 into the water 

 they ma\' float 

 u|)side down for a 

 I inie before assum- 

 ing their normal 

 lape. 



.■\ valve in the 

 t li riK> I is the 

 nuans b\' which 

 this choice, edible 

 fish is changed in- 

 to an unmanage- 

 able balloon and 

 b.ick ag.iin when 

 its fright is over. 

 The \alvc seems 

 to be controlled 

 entirely by the 

 \olilion of the fish, 

 unless the fright 

 which the fish ex- 

 periences iijion 



A candlf suspended from u wire sliines 

 through the stretched skin lis throufth 

 thin oiled paper making a bizarre lantern 



.'5(W 



