650 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



species are held in no little fear by fishermen and bathers, attacks from these fishes being by 

 no means rare. Their distribution is closely similar to that of the Serpent-eels. 



The ELECTRIC EEL is an extremely abundant fish in the rivers and lagoons of Brazil and 

 the Guianas. It is the most powerful of the electric fishes, and attains a length of 6 feet 

 The electric organs of this fish are sufficiently strong to kill by their shock other fishes and 

 even mammals. The traveler Humboldt is responsible for the statement, now generally dis- 

 credited, that the Indians procured this fish by driving horses into the water, and so provoking 

 such violent discharges from the fish that they became exhausted and fell an easy prey. 



The CAT-FISHES, or SHEATH-FISHES, are an extremely interesting group, one of the principal 

 characteristics of which is the total absence of scales, the body being either entirely naked 

 or armed with bony tubercles or overlapping plates. Another peculiarity of these fishes is 

 the presence of feelers round the mouth ; these, by their delicate sense of touch, enable the 

 fish to procure its food in extremely muddy water, when the eyes would be useless. The 

 latter, indeed, in many species are extremely reduced in size. Many cat-fishes are armed 

 with powerful spines, attached to the body by a very complicated mechanism. Such spines 

 are capable of inflicting dangerous wounds, either by the introduction of poison or the 

 violent inflammation following on the laceration of the wounded part. Some species have 

 elaborate accessory breathing-organs, enabling them to travel overland for short distances 

 from one piece of water to another. Other members of the group possess electrical organs of 

 considerable power; one species inhabiting the Nile attains a length of 4 feet. 



The nesting-habits of the group are exceedingly interesting, some building nests in which 

 to deposit the eggs ; others carry the eggs in the mouth till they hatch. In one species the 

 care of the eggs is undertaken by the female, which carries them about embedded in the skin 

 of the under surface of the body, which at this season becomes very soft and spongy. When 

 the eggs are laid, she presses them into the spongy skin by lying on them. 



The cat-fishes are of world-wide distribution, but only one species, the WELS, occurs in 

 European waters. It commonly attains a length of from 6 to 9 feet, and occasionally as 

 much as 13 feet. The majority of cat-fishes inhabit fresh-water, but some are marine. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE CARP FAMILY 



BY JOHN BICKERDYKE, M.A. 



CARP 



of the Carp Tribe are vegetable-feeders, 

 the iawt 



They have teeth in the throaty but nont in 



THE Carp Fam- 

 ily, like the 

 Perch group, is 

 one of the largest among 

 fishes. It includes the 

 Rudd, Roach, Tench, 

 Bream, Minnow, etc., 

 and is divided into many 

 groups, which again in- 

 clude numerous species 

 found chiefly in the 

 temperate and tropical 

 parts of the world. In- 

 cluded among these are 

 the Barbels, of which 

 there are about 2OO 

 species, varying from 

 little fishes of 2 inches 



