THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Him kj If. Sv(/;-/r/f, F.Z.S.] 



BAR-TAILED FLAT-HEAD 

 A tkallow-watt' fik 



. If. Sivil/t-KiKl, F.Z.S.] ; 



ROCK FLAT-HEAD 



About forty iftciei of flat- lit adi an knt,'.i<n 



coasts of Britain, and extending from tropical to arctic seas. Their curiously shaped head-; 

 give them a very quaint appearance. One of the most remarkable peculiarities of those fishes 

 is the separate condition of some of the rays of the breast-fins, which form finger-like organs, 

 used to feel the ground and rake over loose stones, to discover small shrimps and other 

 animals hidden underneath. Furthermore, the gurnards are peculiar in that they arc enabled 

 to communicate one with another by means of sounds produced by the expulsion of air from 

 one compartment of the air-bladder to another. The females are much more common than 

 the males, and also slightly larger. The young are remarkable for the enormous size of the 

 breast-fins, though even in the adult these are unusually large. 



Close allies of the Gurnards are the FLYING-GURNARDS, which, by reason of the extreme 

 development of the breast-fins, are enabled to take flying'leaps out of the water. ( >ne >p< 

 is common in the Mediterranean. The flying-gurnard is not to be mistaken for the true 

 " flying-fish," or flying-herring, described later. 



The curious mail-clad ARMED BULL-HEAD, or I'<K;<;K, commonly taken in shrimp-net-., i-, an 

 ally of the flying-gurnard. 



CHAPTER V 



LUMP-SUCKERS, GOBIES, BLE\ 7 NIES, BARRACUDAS, GREY MULLETS, 

 STICKLEBACKS AND THEIR ALLIES, GARPIKE, ./.\7) 



BY W. P. PVCRAFT, A.L.S., F./.>. 



UGLY in appearance and carnivorous in habits, the Sucker-fish Family are distinguished 

 by the presence of a large round sucker on the belly, with which they adhere to n>eks. 

 Furthermore, the sucker-fishes are remarkable for the softness of their skeleton, which 

 may be cut through at any point with an ordinary knife. The male lump-sucker is smaller 

 than the female, but much more brightly coloured, especially during the breeding-season. \vh<-n 

 he dons a livery of blue, scarlet, and yellow. He is also a model parent, always remaining near 

 the eggs and keeping a constant stream of fresh water running over them by the action of 

 his breast-fins. A single female may produce as many as MO.OOO eggs in a single season. 

 In Scotland the male is known as the < '< K and the female as the III \ I'xmu.K. The species 

 is more common off the coasts of Scotland than elsewhere in the British Islands. 



Like the Lump-suckers, the G<mil-;s, which form the next family, have the ventral fins 

 modified so as to form a sucking-disk, which is used as an anchor. But the gobies arc easily 



