CHAPTER VII 



PIPE-FISHES, SEA-HORSES, GLOBE-FISHES, SUN-FISHES, AND THEIR ALLIES 



BY W. P. PYCRAFT, F.L.S,, F.Z.S. 



THE fishes described in the present chapter form two well-marked groups, known as 

 the TUFT-GILLEI) and the COMB-GILLED Fishes, on account of the peculiar arrange- 

 ment of the gills, or breathing-organs; they are also remarkable for their peculiar 

 shapes. The breast-fins are present in all ; but in three of the families the second pair 

 of fins, corresponding to the hind limbs of the higher animals, are wanting. 



TheTuFT-GiLLED Fishes 

 are represented by two families 

 — the Mailed Tube-mouths 

 and the PiPE-FlSHES and SEA- 

 HORSES, all of which have 

 undergone very considerable 

 modification of form, thebody 

 being encased in mail-like 

 armour, whilst the jaws are 

 toothless and produced into 

 a long tube. 



The first family is com- 

 posed of a few small fishes 

 from the Indian Ocean. 

 Grotesque in appearance, they 

 are remarkable also for the 

 fact that the female takes 

 sole charge not only of the 

 eggs, which are exceedingly 

 minute, but the j'oung fry 

 also. Only one other fish is 

 known m which the care of the eggs and young is undertaken by the female- this is one 

 of the Cat-fishes, described in a later chapter. The eggs in the TuBE-MOUTHS are carried 

 m a pouch formed by the union of the inner borders of the ventral fins, which are lon^ and 

 broad. For the retention of the eggs within the pouch its wall develops long filaments, which 

 serve the purpose of slender fingers. 



The second of these families contains the Pipe-fishes and Sea-Horses They are small 

 marme fishes, mhabiting the seas of tropical and temperate regions wherever there is sufficient 

 vegetation to offer shelter, for they are peculiarly defenceless creatures. They possess but 

 feeble powers of swimming, and consequently are not seldom borne away b)' stron- currents 

 far out to sea or on to distant shores. Their method of locomotion is, indeed, quite difi-erent 

 from that of other fishes, as they progress neither by undulatory motions of the body nor by 

 pmverfiil .strokes of the tail, but by wriggling in the case of the pipe-fishes, or vibrating motions 

 ot the back-fin in the sea-horses. 



The long, semi-cylindrical Pli-E-FisiiES, partly on account of their peculiar form and colour, 

 and partly on account of their swaying motions, so closely resemble the fronds of seaweed 



636 



Phots by A. S. Rudland & Soni 



GLOBE-FISH 



From the formidable armature of spines, knotun also as the Sea-hedgehog 



