Giant Fish of Florida 



Under the two bony fish in the photograph will be seen, on 

 a shell, one of the remarkable toad fish clinging to its support 

 and lying in ambush for unwary small fry. This particular 

 specimen, of which I give an enlarged presentment, seems 

 a very primitive creature, with its handlike fins and tiny eyes 

 and general absence of vitality, yet it is admirably equipped 

 for satisfying its own greed and escaping that of its enemies. 

 It is all but invisible clinging to the shell against a deceptive 

 background of weeds, and its gaping mouth is striped black and 

 white inside in an attractive manner that proves the doom of 

 many fish endowed with a fatal curiosity. This particular 

 individual, indeed, had actually swallowed a young snapper of 

 exactly its own weight and half an inch longer than itself ! I 

 relate this merely as it came under my own notice, for I took 

 the one from the other, but I hardly expect to be believed. 



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