WONDERS OF THE DEEP 61 



tropical and sub-tropical waters, and preferring the 

 coastal waters rather than the open sea- They 

 reach a length of eight feet, and their maximum 

 weight is about forty pounds. Their presence ren- 

 ders the water dangerous to bathers. In the West 

 Indies the barracuda is eaten as food, but this 

 practice is sometimes attended with danger, for, as 

 the barracuda frequently feeds on smaller poisonous 

 fishes, its own flesh may thus be rendered poisonous. 



The trigger fish is so called on account of the 

 possession of an armature of spines on the top of 

 the back. These spines are three in number, and 

 the first one resembles the surface of a file. Hence 

 this fish is sometimes known as the file fish. The 

 trigger fish has the power of raising and lowering 

 these spines at will ; hence the appropriateness of 

 the name. Their teeth are so powerful that they 

 can easily break off pieces of hard coral, which 

 forms a large part of their diet. They do a con- 

 siderable amount of destruction amongst shell fish 

 and pearl oysters. As they frequently eat poisonous 

 coral or jelly fish or decomposing substances, their 

 flesh, too, becomes poisonous. 



In these tropical waters are to be found zebra fish, 

 so named on account of their curious black stripes, 

 which give it the appearance of a zebra's coat; angel 

 or monk fish, which possess a broad flat head, and 

 attain a length of five feet ; the Hanna fish, a light 

 blue fish, named after Hanna, a scientist; the convict 

 fish, whose scales bear peculiar marks, reminding one 

 of a convict's dress ; the butterfly fish, which bears 



