159 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OCEAN LIFE. THE HARVEST OF THE SEA. 



Fishes and their Swimming Apparatus The Bladder Scientific Classification Cartilaginous Fish The Torpedo A 

 Living Galvanic Battery The Shark His Love for Man in a Gastronomic Sense Stories of their Prowess Catching 

 a Shark Their Interference with Whaling The Tiger-SharkAfrican Worship of the Monster The Dog-fish 

 The Sturgeon Enormous Fecundity Caviare The Bony Fishes The Flying Fish : its Feats ; its Enemies Youth 

 of a Salmon The Parr, the Smolt, and the Grilse Flourishes in the Sea The Ponds at Stormontfield The Salmon's 

 Enemies The Ettrick Shepherd Canned Salmon, and where it comes from The Fish a Drug in N. W. America- 

 Canoes impeded by them The Fisheries of the Columbia River The Fishing Season Modes of Catching Salmon 

 The Factories and Processes employed. 



AND now we proceed to still higher organisations. The fish must have their turn in a 

 work treating of their natural home, the ocean.* Fishes, intended always to live in water, 

 have wonderful organs to aid them in swimming. "The anterior limbs/-' says Figuier, 

 " which correspond with the arms in man and the wings in birds, are attached to each 

 side of the trunk, immediately behind the head, and form the pectoral fins. The posterior 

 limbs occupy the lower surface of the body, and form the ventral fins. The latter, which are 

 always over the ventral line, may be placed before, beneath, or, as is most usual, behind the 

 former. Fishes possess, besides these two pair of fins, odd fins. The fins which are found on 

 the back or dorsum are called the back or dorsal fins, those at the end of the tail are the 

 caudal fins ; finally, there is frequently another attached to the lower extremity of the body, 

 which is called the anal fin. These fins are always nearly of the same structure, consisting 

 generally of a fold of the skin, supported by slender, flexible, cartilaginous, or osseous rays, 

 connected by a thin membrane." The muscles which move these fins are powerful. Further, 

 nearly all species of fish possess a swimming bladder, over which the animal has control, 

 and can thereby increase or diminish the specific gravity of its body. Immediately behind 

 the head are the gill openings ; respiration is effected by water, in its natural state always 

 charged with air, being taken in at the mouth, which passes over the gills, and is afterwards 

 ejected. The eyes in fish are usually very large. 



The scientific classification of fishes usually adopted is that of Muller. He divided 

 them into five groups, the Leptocardia, Cyclostomata, Selaclda, Ganoidea, and Teleostea. The 

 first of these is represented by a single genus, Ampliioxus, a little slender gelatinous fish, 

 rarely over two inches in length, and commonly found on all sandy coasts. The second 

 order is characterised as serpentine, void of fins, and with a mouth formed for suction. 

 The lamprey is a familiar example. 



The third order, Selaclda, includes a number of cartilaginous fish, varying much in form ; 

 the rays, dog-fish, skate, torpedo, shark, and saw-fish belong to this important division. 

 The torpedo has the power of giving a strong electrical shock, lledi, an Italian naturalist 

 of the seventeenth century, first studied them carefully. He caught and landed an electric 

 ray, and pressing it with his hand, experienced a tingling sensation, which extended to his 

 arms and shoulders, and was followed by a disagreeable trembling. This electric power dies 

 with the animal. Dr. Walsh made some interesting experiments with them. He placed 



* The contents of this chapter are derived from Dr. Bertram's " Harvest of the Sea," Figuier's " Ocean World," 

 Hartwig's " Sea and its Living Wonders," Murphy's " Rambles in North-Western America," &c. 



