gill] 



THE LUMPSUCKER 



189 



in the aquarium which Fulton observed would mostly "He behind 

 them, with his snout against them, and obviously keenly attentive to 

 his surroundings as well as to the responsible duties of his office." 

 Not infrequently, however, he would attach himself by his sucker 

 to the wall of the tank next to the eggs, with head upward. A sea- 

 anemone close to the eggs was never interfered with. 





Fig. 43. — Male Lumpfish guarding egg masses. (Sea-anemone at right undis- 

 turbed.) Modified after Williamson and Fulton. 



But something more than vigilance against intruders is required 

 of the parent fish. The charge assumed by him demands still more 

 active duties. In the case of the fish observed by Fulton, after a 

 time "the guarding male was observed to fan gently the mass of 

 eggs with his breast fins, clearly for the aeration of the eggs, but 

 for some time the action was leisurely performed and was by no 

 means so striking as it became later." Some ten days after the 

 assumption of his charge the male resorted to a still more efficient 

 means of aeration. "Placing his mouth about an inch or so from the 

 spawn, he spouted water out upon it, the action of the gill-apparatus 

 being thus reversed. * * * This curious action was most pur- 

 posive and effective. The current created was so strong as to sway 

 the algse growing on the side of the tank in the neighborhood as 

 well as the tentacles" of a sea-anemone close by the eggs, "and even 



