42 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



roe of some of these fishes is so great as to appear almost in- 

 credible. While the carp and the sturgeon produce from 

 half a million to a million and a half, the celebrated Dutch 



naturalist Leuwenhoeck reckoned that the codfish contains 



$ 



over nine millions of eggs. This estimate was based upon 

 weighing accurately a small part of the roe and counting the 

 eggs, then weighing the remainder, and estimating the whole 

 from the part counted. Without doubt the fecundity of all 

 the food-fishes of the sea is beyond human estimate ; so that, 

 if all the spawn should be fructified by the male fishes, the 

 vast body of fishes would, within a few years, become too 

 great for the waters to contain. 



SECTION SECOND. 



VORACITY OF FISHES. 



The innumerable shoals of young fishes constitute the chief 

 part of the food for larger ones, and even those full grown 

 often meet in fierce combat, when the one which has the 

 widest throat comes off victorious by swallowing his oppo- 

 nent. Fish, being cold-blooded animals, are not susceptible 

 to an acute sense of pain ; thus it does not hurt an eel much 

 to be skinned, and a shark has been observed to seek prey for 

 some time after he was split open and entirely eviscerated. 

 The prettiest and most playful of fishes, almost domesticated 

 in private ponds, do not fail occasionally to devour such 

 members of their own family as venture near enough. Sir 

 William Jardine states that "the lake trout are very rapa- 

 cious, and, after attaining the weight of three or four pounds, 

 feed almost exclusively on small fish, not sparing even their 

 own young." 



This being true of the finny tribes generally, how malapro- 

 pos is the sympathy extended for them by good souls who 

 do not understand the savage character of the objects of their 

 solicitude. Such was the poet Dr. Walcott, author of the fol- 

 lowing verses : 



