234 The Murral. CHAP. xvi. 



to it. Indeed, they travel on land of their own accord, and any one 

 allowed to jump out of your can or tub of water will soon be seen to 

 wriggle a considerable distance on land, and to keep it up long after 

 any of the carps would be dead. They are among the fish that have 

 been known to bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of drying 

 rivers and ponds, sestivating there through the drought till the next 

 rains release them. They have been dug alive out of the sun-burnt 

 mud from as great a depth as 6 feet. 



The Ophiocephalus gachua, which I have mentioned above as a tough 

 bait, is one of this family, therefore easy to keep alive in a can, and not 

 to be picketed to the bottom. 



Murral will thrive in ponds, and at various altitudes, so you can 

 easily stock a pond if you desire, but they will speedily depopulate it of 

 other sorts of fish. The natives frequently put them into their wells, 

 from which they can take them fresh and fresh as they want them. 



In brief they are ubiquitous. In any fort moat you will find them 

 for a certainty because when the Mussulmans were rulers, and held so 

 many forts, they introduced them freely. Mussulmans are great fish- 

 eaters, and sporting fish-catchers, because a fish is an animal food that 

 they are permitted to eat without the offering of hallal, as " Allah has 

 cut its throat already," witness the gill openings, and for the reasons 

 stated Murral are the easiest of all Indian fish to introduce. 



The Murral, unlike most fish, exhibits parental affection towards its 

 young, keeping them together in a shoal, and swimming under them, 

 and attacking anything that comes near them. This it does till they 

 are about 3 inches long, when it turns on and eats them itself, if they 

 do not disperse. 



There are nine Ophiocephali, of which four attain to about 3 feet 

 long each, and one to 4 feet. These larger Ophiocephali are commonly 

 called Murrals. Of these five, then, I have in " Tank Angling " quoted 

 abbreviated descriptions from Dr. Day's " Fishes of India," omitting 

 the others, except O. gachua, mentioned above as a good bait. 



