LIFE AT AND NEAR SURFACE 131 



have aided naturalists in discovering some of 

 the greatest truths in regard to nature. 



If you have examined the surface animals 

 you cannot have helped noticing that the 

 largest proportion of them are nearly or quite 

 transparent and that only the eyes, some of 

 the internal organs, etc., can be distinguished 

 as they swim rapidly about in clear water. 

 Even fairly good-sized fish may sometimes be 

 found which are perfectly transparent and 

 only their eyes and the contents of their stom- 

 achs are visible. Some of these are slender 

 and eel-like and others are flat and look like 

 queer little flatfish or flounders. The eel-like 

 creatures are the young of the big Conger eels 

 and for many years were considered a differ- 

 ent creature. You will have to laugh if you 

 catch some of these funny, transparent sur- 

 face fishes, for they can see straight through 

 their own heads and, as they swim about, they 

 seem to wink at you with the eye on the op- 

 posite side. 



While you may be greatly interested and 

 amused at these ghostlike fishes the fact that 

 they are so transparent may not appear of any 



