DWELLERS IN THE DEEP 



217 



Sometimes a fish is not marked or barred or 

 hued in an interesting way as, for instance, the 

 gra3'ish-black and dirty-white of the shark or 

 the dull lead-colors of the pollock; l)ut the 

 school fishes, though they are brought forth in 

 millions, have all of them tints of loveliness. 

 What, for example, could be more superb in 

 color than the back of the common mackerel ! 

 The green of the peacock's neck is not so bril- 

 liant nor the blue of the sea itself so intense. 

 The silvery sides of the tarpon, made up of 

 scales that are like thin plates of pearl, what 

 again can equal them in lustre ! And has there 

 ever been known a more beautiful fish than the 

 rarely-seen coryphene ! He is a wonderwork of 

 blue and gold, flashing in the sunlight with 

 opalescent colorings, and under shadow chang- 

 ing into shades of silver. This is the so-called 

 " dolphin " that poets have chosen to picture as 

 growing more beautiful in coloring as he dies; 

 but there is more poetry than truth in the fig- 

 ure. The fish changes hue, true enough, but 

 he is never so beautiful as when alive in the 

 water chasing the flying fish, his long dorsal 

 fin of gold gleaming like an arrow of light on 

 his blue-green back. 



There are other inhabitants of the sea, wan- 

 derers that travel about the poles or around the 



Coloring of 

 the mack- 

 erel 



Beauty of 

 the cory- 

 phene 



