CHAPTER XI 
THE COLLECTION OF FISHES 
OW to Secure Fishes.—In collecting fishes three things 
are vitally necessary—a keen eye, some skill in 
93) adapting means to ends, and some willingness 
to take pains in the preservation of material. 
In coming into a new district the collector should try to 
preserve the first specimen of every species he sees. It may 
not come up again. He should watch carefully for specimens 
which look just a little different from their fellows, especially 
for those which are duller, less striking, or with lower fins. Many 
species have remained unnoticed through generations of col- 
lectors who have chosen the handsomest or most ornate speci- 
mens. In some groups with striking peculiarities, as the trunk- 
fishes, practically all the species were known to Linneus. No 
collector could pass them by. On the other hand, new gobies 
or blennies can be picked up almost every day in the lesser 
known parts of the world. For these overlooked forms—her- 
rings, anchovies, sculpins, blennies, gobies, scorpion-fishes—the 
competent collector should be always on the watch. If any 
specimen looks different from the rest, take it at once and find 
out the reason why. 
In most regions the chief dependence of the collector is on 
the markets and these should be watched most critically. By 
paying a little more for unusual, neglected, or useless fish, the 
supply of these will rise to the demand. The word passed 
along among the people of Onomichi in Japan, that “Ebisu 
the fish-god was in the village’ and would pay more for 
okose (poison scorpion-fishes) and umiuma (sea-horses) than 
real fishes were worth soon brought (in 1900) all sorts of okose 
and umiuma into the market when they were formerly left 
neglected on the beach. Thus with a little ingenuity the mar- 
kets in any country can be greatly extended. 
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