ADAPTATIONS 133 
Even the fishes have many modes of self-defense through 
giving pain or injury to those who would swallow them. 
The cat-fishes or horned pouts when attacked set immov- 
ably the sharp spine of the 
pectoral fin, inflicting a 
jagged wound. Pelicans 
who have swallowed a cat- 
fish have been known to 
die of the wounds inflicted 
by the fish’s spine. In 
the group of scorpion- 
fishes and toad-fishes are 
certain genera in which 
these spines are provided 
with poison glands. These 
may inflict very severe 
wounds to other fishes, or 
even to birds or man. One of this group 
of poison-fishes is the nokee (Emmydrich- 
thys, Fig. 66). A group of small fresh- 
water cat-fishes, known as the mad toms 
(Fig. 67), have also a poison gland attached 
to the pectoral spine, and its sting is most 
exasperating, like the sting of .a wasp. 
The sting-rays (Fig. 68) of many species Fia. 68—A sting-ray 
have a strong, jagged spine on the tail, —(Ur#aphus goodei), 
covered with slime, and armed with broad 
saw-like teeth. This inflicts -a dangerous wound, not 
through the presence of specific venom, but from the dan- 
ger of blood poisoning arising from the slime, and the 
ragged or unclean cut. 
Many fishes are defended by a coat of mail or a coat of 
sharp thorns. The globe-fishes and porcupine-fishes (Fig: 
69) are for the most part defended by spines, but their 
instinct to swallow air gives them an additional safeguard. 
When one of these fishes is disturbed it rises to the surface, 
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