SHORE FISHES. 249 



continuous from above the gills right along almost to the tail, 

 which is similarly spotted. There are very few spots on the 

 long anal fin which is hidden when the fish is resting ; but the 

 expansive oval pectoral fins, which are often spread out 

 widely, have the rays well-spotted. 



You lift up a big stone from the bottom of a pool and out 

 rushes a big Shanny, causing a great commotion in the water. 

 He makes for a narrow cleft where there does not seem to be 

 nearly sufficient room for so big a fish as he; but he has 

 vanished. Knowing where he disappeared you rout him out 

 again, and once more he frantically flies round and round the 

 pool, perhaps leaping right out of the water into a tuft of 

 overhanging Fncus serratus. But as likely as not, after 

 dodging about for two or three turns and splashing the water 

 about, he will quietly drop to the coralline-covered floor right 

 under your eyes, and you cannot see him. So admirably 

 does the indefinite marking of his upper surface harmonise 

 with the coralline and other matters, that he has become as 

 invisible as a nightjar on the moorland, or as certain moths 

 on lichen-covered tree-trunks. It will do you no harm to 

 carefully scrutinise every millimetre of the pool's floor until 

 you have detected the Shanny's whereabouts, but probably 

 you will be assisted in this by the Shanny himself, who, 

 observing your quietness, will imagine all danger is past and 

 make a move. 



Juvenile Shannies, though as ready to rush into cover as 

 their elders, are endowed with considerable curiosity ; and if 

 in early summer you come upon a dozen of them sporting 

 about a rock-pool, and will lie down with your head and 

 shoulders over the water, you will find that their inquisitive- 

 ness is greater than their fear. One after another will come 

 from his retreat among the weeds and look up at you, rolling 

 his little eyes knowingly. Then they will creep up the sides 

 of the pool, using their ventral fins as feet, until their muzzles 

 are out of water. Dip in the tip of a finger., and they all 



