GREY MULLET. 



FISHES OF OUR SEAS 



Their Home Life 

 By F. G. AFLALO 



II— BASS, GREY MULLET, GURNARD 

 AND TURBOT 



THE notion of any sort of home life 

 in such restless, cold-blooded 



creatures as fishes may at first 

 sight seem inadmissible. Yet some of us, 

 who, for pleasure or othervvise, have 

 made something of a study of fishes in 

 their natural surroundings, know per- 

 fectly well that they can be domestic 

 like other animals, and that their lives 

 are governed by much the same passions 

 and emotions. They are, in fact, actuated 

 by hunger, fear, love and all the other 

 incentives common to the lower creation 

 generally. Of course, they have no moral 

 code. Neither, for the matter of that, 

 have many beasts and birds, save in the 

 fertile imaginations of those who profess 

 to write their life histories. Might is 

 right in the world of waters. The stronger 

 preys on the weaker, and the weaker 

 must either hide or get away if he wants 

 to escape destruction. They are not, 

 however, devoid of what we call the 



133 104Q 



domestic virtues, and parental affection 

 is recognised in manv of them. 



The Sticklebacks and Gobies will guard 

 their nests or eggs with great devotion, 

 and the Lumpsucker, an ungainly-looking 

 fish, will mount sentry over its eggs with 

 such determination that not even the 

 ebbing tide takes it from its post. It is 

 foolish of the female to lay her eggs so 

 near low-water mark, but perhaps she 

 knows that her husband, and not herself, 

 will run the risk of suffocation. Sometimes 

 masses of these eggs are scattered by a 

 storm, and the breaking of the waves is 

 so violent that the Lumpsuckers cannot 

 keep their place in the shallows. On 

 such occasions, thev have been seen, in 

 the ensuing calm, Imnting about for the 

 lost eggs with every sign of distress. It 

 has been said that the Lumpsucker even 

 carries its young, clinging to its slimy 

 sides, to places of safety, but the evidence 

 on which this rests is not satisfactory. 



