TIIIRTEEXTII AXXr.M. RKPoRT 



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ideiilicai with those secured liy Dui^more. Xeiiher are tliev the 

 results of gradual change, brought about by living in captivity, 

 since changes of color occur hourly ; in fact, may occur at any 

 monKiit and are usuall\- instantaneous. They begin to be in evi- 

 dence within an hour of the arrival of new specimens, or as 

 soon as they recover from the alarm caused bv handling, and are 

 produced as long as the hshcs live in the tanks, which, in some 

 cases, may be several years. 



The markings in the Dugmore photographs, as well as those 

 made in the Xew York A(|uarium, are not those produced b\- 

 mere excitement. ])ut rather those caused by real alarm and the 

 desire to hide. The markings and colors resulting from such 

 moderate excitements as play, fighting, feeding, turning on of 

 electric lights, etc.. are quite different and have not vet been 

 caught by the camera. portra\e(l hv the artist, or recorded in 

 tl:e books. 



The colors shown on many of the well-known colored jjlates 

 of West Indian fishes are, therefore, not those of normal condi- 

 tions, but rather those of dying, or dead and rapidly fading fishes. 

 The colors so observed are the vestiges of the last color excite- 

 ments of the fishes. Even if painted in a ]:)ortable a(|uarium (as 

 some of them were) from newly caught wild fishes, they show 

 hiding or alarm colors only, and represent in each case merely 

 one of several possible phases of coloration. 



Fishes newly introduced to captivit}- do not remember their 

 alarms very long, but emerge from their hiding places whei^ 

 quiet is restored. They soon show interest in life, by feeding, 

 fighting and playing, and the observer in the X'ew York Aqua- 

 rium will quickly discover that the fishes habitually masquerade 

 in colors and patterns which are apparently unknown to ichthy- 

 ologists. 



A little frightening cf most of these fishes drives them to the 

 lower or the darker portions of the tanks, where the hiding col- 

 ors are maintained as long as tlie fishes try to conceal themselves. 

 The turning on of artificial light usuallx' has an enlivening efifect 

 on the fishes, many of them swimming nearer the surface and 

 showing brighter color. It often has the efifect of drawing all the 

 specimens of certain species from the bottom to mid-tank or 

 higher. Feeding produces a change in certain species, which 

 may last for some time after they have ceased darting at the par- 

 ticles of food falling down through the water. With few excep- 

 tions, the various sudden changes of color occur in the voung, as 



