THE FOOD FISHES. 605 



Perhaps some of the most common or familiar invertebrates are the Annelids, though from 

 their supposed unattractiveness or positive obscurity they are not observed so closely as they 

 deserve to be. Many are very beautiful in form and in color. They also have curious habits 

 and interesting structure. Some grow to a length of two feet. They are mostly found under 

 stones between tide-marks. Some are carnivorous, feeding on other species of worms ; others 

 are vegetarian. There are those that eat the mud they live in, thereby extracting the line ani- 

 mal matter that so largely enters into the composition of some of the shore bottoms. Many 

 'are phosphorescent, the luminosity appearing quite regularly in spots between each two joints 

 or the scales that cover some species. These creatures naturally form choice morsels for marine 

 fishes, both small and large. One of the largest of the Nereids is the common species called 

 Nereis v/'rens, reaching the length of eighteen iuches. The list of other species of Annelids is 

 considerable, but of little general interest, the purpose here being to indicate what great num- 

 bers of invertebrate forms are brought to light by the investigations of the Pish Commission 

 in its endeavors to learn the nature of the food of our edible fishes and quantity, as well as 

 other relations to the questions of alleged scarcity of fishes. 



Among the Radiates there are some species found along the shores within tide-water. The 

 common Green Sea Urchin, figured elsewhere, is the most familiar. This, as well as other 

 forms, is not especially palatable, one would judge, but yet forms an important item in the 

 food of fishes. 



The Green Sea-Star (Asterias arenieola) is one of the most abundant of the class, and 

 proves a most destructive creature among the beds of shell-fish, as we have previously seen. 



In the sandy beaches near high-water mark, especially when the sand is rather compact 

 and somewhat sheltered, one species of the Fiddler Crabs is frequently found, the Gelasimus 

 pugilator. Great numbers of this crab form into armies and progress in platoons, as it were, 

 wheeling and moving as one body, with one impulse. We have seen in Florida an army cover- 

 ing, perhaps, thirty feet square, moving and manoeuvring in this manner. Their holes are 

 constructed in an interesting manner. Mr. Sidney I. Smith witnessed the movements of the 

 ' Crabs while digging their holes. He remained perfectly quiet on the beach while the creatures 

 were at work. They bring up from their holes the wet pellets of sand in their three anterior 

 ambulatory legs that are on the rear side, climbing out of their burrows by means of the legs 

 on the side in front, aided by the posterior leg of the other side. After arriving at the mouth 

 of their burrow and taking a cautious survey of the landscape, they run quickly to the dis- 

 tance often of four or five feet from the burrow before dropping their load, using the same legs 

 as before, and carrying the load in the same manner. They then take another careful survey 

 of the surroundings, run nimbly back to the hole, and after again turning their pedunculated 

 eyes in every direction, suddenly disappear, soon to reappear with another load. They work 

 in this way day and night, when the tide is out and the weather is suitable. 



An interesting Crab, the Oeypoda arenaria, allied to the fiddlers, and similar in some 

 habits, is found on Long Island ; at Fire Island Mr. Smith found the young abundant. The 

 young are also found at Block Island, but not further north. It is a southern species, and 

 ranges to Brazil. We have so comparatively few crustaceans of considerable size, that any 

 species found near our shores is of interest. It lives on the beaches, at or near high-water 

 mark. It digs large holes, like the fiddlers, but takes to the water Avhen hard pushed. A 

 habit is observed in this Crab, that we have seen in a Gelasimus, or Spider Crab, on the Florida 

 Reef. It is near the color of the surrounding sand of the beach. When approached it squats, 

 as it were, closely to the sand, and thereby often baffles the observer. Unlike some others, 

 it is carnivorous, and feeds on the smaller crustaceans. 



The curious, long-legged Spider Crab (Libinia canaliculata) is found frequently on these 

 shores, just below water mark. 



The Hermit Crabs are not very familiar to the inexperienced visitor of the sea-shore. The 

 largest, occupying a shell considerably less than the first, is found in deep water. The smaller 

 ones are found between tides, and usually adopt the little spiral shells that they find empty. 

 On our Florida coast, in the warmer waters, several magnificent species are known, occupying 

 the cast-off or dead shells of the great Conchs. 



