186 THE IN HABITANTS OS! THE SEA. 



CHAP. XII. 



THE MABINE FISHES. 



General Observations on Fishes — Their Locomotive Organs — Tail — Fins. — 

 Classification of Fishes by Cuvier. — Air-Bladder. — Scales. — Beauty of the 

 Tropical Fishes. — The Gills. — Terrestrial Voyages of the Anabas and the 

 Hassar. — Examples of Parental Affection. — Organs of Sense. — Offensive 



Weapons of Fishes The Sea-Wolf.— The Shark.— The Saw-Fish.— The Swordr 



Fish.— The Torpedo.— The Star-Gazer. — The Angler.— The Chsetodon Eos- 



tratus. — The Kemora, used for catching Turtles Defensive Weapons of 



Fishes.— The Weever.— The Stickleback.— The Sun-Fish.— The Flying-Fish.— 

 The numerous Enemies of the Fishes. — Importance and History of the Herring 

 Fishery.— The Pilchard.— The Sprat.— The Anchovy— The Cod.— The Stur- 

 geons.— The Salmon.— The Tunny.— The Mackerel Family.— The Eel.— The- 

 Murey. — The Conger. — The Sand-Launce. — The Plectognaths. — The Sea-Horse. 

 —The Pipe-Fish.— The Fiat-Fishes.— The Kays.— The Fecundity of Fishes. 



The bosom of the ocean is full of mysteries ; it conceals a whole- 

 world of curiously-shaped animals, which the naturalist only 

 superficially knows, and may, perhaps, never be able to fathom. 

 To observe the habits of terrestrial animals, and accurately to- 

 determine their various species, is a comparatively easy task^. 

 but the denser element in which fishes live prevents us from 

 following their motions with exactness, from studying their 

 instincts, and from noting with fidelity their specific differences. 

 Since Pliny, who mentions but seventy-four different kinds of 

 fishes, the number of known species has indeed enormously in- 

 creased. The ancients, who knew only the waters of the Medi- 

 terranean and a very small part of the ocean, had no conception 

 of the finny multitudes inhabiting the tropical and icy seas ; 

 but although modern science has succeeded in describing and 

 picturing above eight thousand different kinds of fishes, yet 

 there can be no doubt that many still unknown species dwell in 

 the depths of ocean, or in the distant seas which are but seldom 

 visited by the European mariner. 



