628 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Fhttt b) W. Savlllt-Kint, F.Z.S.] [Milford-in-Sta 



BAR-TAILED FLAT-HEAD 



A shalloiu-ivatcr jish 



Phttt b) If. Savillc-Kint, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-St 



ROCK FLAT-HEAD 



About forty species of flat-heads are known 



coasts of Britain, and extending from tropical to arctic seas. Their curiously shaped heads 

 give them a very quaint appearance. One of the most remarkable peculiarities of these fishes 

 is the separate condition of some of the rays of the breast-fins, which form finger-like organs, 

 used to feel the ground and rake over loose stones, to discover small shrimps and other 

 animals hidden underneath. Furthermore, the gurnards are peculiar in that they are enabled 

 to communicate one with another by means of sounds produced by the expulsion of air from 

 one compartment of the air-bladder to another. The females are much more common than 

 the males, and also slightly larger. The young are remarkable for the enormous size of the 

 breast-fins, though even in the adult these are unusually large. 



Close allies of the Gurnards are the FLYING-GURNARDS, which, by reason of the extreme 

 development of the breast-fins, are enabled to take flying leaps out of the water. One species 

 is common in the Mediterranean. The flying-gurnard is not to be mistaken for the true 

 " flying-fish," or flying-herring, described later. 



The curious mail-clad ARMED BULL-HEAD, or PoGGE, commonly taken in shrimp-nets, is an 

 ally of the flying-gurnard. 



CHAPTER V 



LUMP-SUCKERS, GOBIES, BLENN1ES, BARRACUDAS, GREY MULLETS* 

 STICKLEBACKS AND THEIR ALLIES, GARP1KE, AND FLYING-FISHES 



BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., F.Z.S. 



UGLY in appearance and carnivorous in habits, the Sucker-fish Family are distinguished 

 by the presence of a large round sucker on the belly, with which they adhere to rocks. 

 Furthermore, the sucker-fishes are remarkable for the softness of their skeleton, which 

 may be cut through at any point with an ordinary knife. The male lump-sucker is smaller 

 than the female, but much more brightly coloured, especially during the breeding-season, when 

 he dons a livery of blue, scarlet, and yellow. He is also a model parent, always remaining near 

 the eggs and keeping a constant stream of fresh water running over them by the action of 

 his breast-fins. A single female may produce as many as 136,000 eggs in a single season. 

 In Scotland the male is known as the COCK and the female as the HEN PADDLE. The species 

 is more common off the coasts of Scotland than elsewhere in the British Islands. 



Like the Lump-suckers, the GOBIES, which form the next family, have the ventral fins 

 modified so as to form a sucking-disk, which is used as an anchor. But the gobies are easily 



