SHALLOW- WATER FAUNA. 51 



to the class of Fishes very rarely rest upon the 

 sea-bottom at all. They are not, as a rule, pro- 

 vided with limbs which are capable of crawling 

 or creeping; and their mouths are adapted for 

 catching food that is swimming, or of browsing 

 upon or nibbling at fixed forms of life while their 

 bodies are still floating in the water. Nearly all 

 the animals living among the rocks that we have 

 hitherto spoken of, have some organs or some 

 specialised portion of the body -wall for resting 

 upon or for attaching themselves to the bottom. 



FIG. 17. The Wrasse. 



The Anemones are attached by their bases ; the 

 Sea-urchins and Star-fishes crawl by means of 

 their tube-feet ; the Gastropod creeps over the 

 rocks by its broad flat foot, and the Octopus 

 stretches out its muscular arms and drags its 

 body along by the numerous suckers they bear. 

 In the Flat Fishes of the sandy and gravelly shores 

 we usually find a white under surface on which 

 they rest when waiting for their prey. Among 

 the Fish which frequent the rocks, however, 

 such as the Cods, the Whitings, and the Wrasse, 



