Io86 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Brooding and guarding the young. — Intimately connected with the foregoing 

 is a habit which I have noticed repeatedly in this fish and which from its likeness 

 to a similar action on the part of the hen may for want of a better term be called 

 "brooding." The following incidents are transcribed almost literally from 

 notes made at the time. 



On July 9, 1907, a number of little fish detached themselves from a nest, 

 in this in.stance a piece of board. At 11 p. m. the male in the aquarium with 

 them was lying on the board and with spread-out pectorals was brooding the 

 young which hovered under these fins and under his body. When I put in my 

 hand he threatened to bite. On July 13 this board with a number of larvae 

 still adherent and with a good many free little fishes hidden in holes made by 

 the shipworm, Teredo navalis, was removed for examination, whereupon the 

 male stood up on his jugularly placed pelvic fins in a manner familiar in the 

 blennies and young of the sea bass {Ceniropristes striatus), and looked search- 

 ingly around, the free young left behind playing under him and between his 

 pelvic fins. On the following day, when the board with the young was again 

 taken out, the adult again went through the same performance, but became 

 perfectly quiet when the board was put back. On the succeeding day, when 

 the board was taken out, the fish tried to bite me. Then he stood on his pelvic 

 fins and literally glared at me with mouth open and teeth showing in a very 

 vicious manner. At this time the toadlets were collected mainly under him 

 and between his pelvics; some, however, were on his head, and one swam into 

 his mouth and then out again. 



The nesting habits of this fish and the fixation of the ova are undoubtedly 

 brought about by the great size of the eggs. If these huge eggs were set free in 

 the water, by virtue of their lack of any buoyant apparatus, they would at once 

 sink to the bottom, where, because of their large size and striking (yellow) color, 

 they would attract enemies without number. Further they must adhere to 

 these nests, since the nests are found in shallow water where waves and tides, 

 acting freely on them, would, because of their great bulk, if they were not at- 

 tached, quickly carry the eggs out of the nest, and so they would be lost. 



Correlated with this large size and fixed condition of the ova and larvae are 

 the large size and great activity of the young when set free. The salmon egg is 

 about the same size as that of the toadfish, but the salmon larva when set free 

 is burdened with a great mass of yolk, which hampers its movements and makes 

 it an easy and attractive prey to its enemies. The little toadfish when detached 

 differs from its parents in magnitude only, and by reason of its large size, finished 

 body, and great activity, can at once begin an independent life. 



Silas Stearns's observations (quoted by Goode, 1884) go further than the 

 writer's in the matter of the fishes guarding the young. They are so interesting 

 and circumstantial that they are given here. 



