"PERFECT-MOUTHED FISHES 229 



action of his pectoral fins, which keeps a constant current of well 

 aerated water flowing through the nest. 



Some of the Blennies, and the curious " Lump-suckers " (Cyclo- 

 pterus lumpus), although they do not actually build nests, show 

 great affection for their eggs, guarding them with the greatest 

 vigilance during their period of development. The Rock Blenny 

 fastens its eggs in a single layer within cracks in the rocks or under 

 stones ; and the Lump-sucker's spawn is attached in large masses 

 to wooden piles or rocks, or rammed into some convenient hole, 

 in a sheltered situation. The mass sometimes measures as 

 much as 10 or 12 inches in breadth, and 3 or 4 inches in thickness. 

 It seems hardly possible that such an enormous quantity of spawn 

 can be the production of a single female only about 24 inches 

 long, but this point is not certain. Both the Blenny and the 

 Lump-sucker are very pugnacious while mounting guard over 

 their eggs, and will fiercely attack any other fish, or sea creature 

 of any kind, that attempts to interfere with them. The Lump- 

 sucker has even been seen by Dr. Ehrenbaum to bite the finger of 

 a fisherman severely enough to make it bleed when he tried to 

 take away the spawn the fish was guarding. 



Amongst other fishes that form nests and care for their young 

 are some of the Wrasses, many of the Catfish, and the common 

 Sun-fishes of the United States. The European Wrasse (Fabrus) 

 constructs its nest of a jumble of pieces of coral and broken shells, 

 mixed up with tufts of soft seaweed and hydrozoa, both male and 

 female fishes sharing in the labour. Two South American species 

 of Catfish, Doras and Callichthys, make rough nests of grasses 

 and leaves, often in holes on the river banks or under logs ; or 

 they will sometimes utilise old pails or other tins which have been 

 thrown into the river, as receptacles for their eggs. A more remark- 

 able method of incubatidn is practised by certain members of the 

 Catfish tribe, and a family of Wrasse-like fishes named Cichlide, 

 who carry the eggs about in their mouths until they are hatched, 

 when the young ones are allowed to escape unharmed from their 

 curious nursery. The male Pipe-fishes (Syngnatkida) also carry 

 their eggs about with them, some species having a special brood 

 pouch, after the manner of a kangaroo, situated under the tail, 

 into which the eggs are passed by the female. Other species have 

 a simple groove under the tail, or the abdomen, in which the eggs 



