THE PILOT-FISH. 2*5 



Scomberoids have of skimming the surface of the sea, and 

 springing occasionally into the air. 



Another member of the mackerel family, the Pilot-Fish 

 (Naucrates ductor), easily recognised by the three dark-blue 

 bands which surround its silvery body, 

 will frequently attend a ship during its 

 course at sea for weeks or even months 

 together, most likely to profit by the 

 offal thrown overboard. Regardless Hiot-Ksh.— (Naucratss 

 of fche useful precept, " avoid bad com- 

 pany," it is frequently found attending the white shark, and 

 owes its name to its being supposed to act as a trusty guide 

 or friendly monitor to that voracious monster, sometimes 

 directing it where to find a good meal, and at others warning it 

 when to avoid a dangerous bait. At all events, the pilot-fish 

 is well rewarded for his attendance by snatching up the morsels 

 which are overlooked by his companion, and as he is an ex- 

 cellent swimmer,' and probably keeps a good look-out, has but 

 little reason to fear being snatched up himself. 



" It has been observed," says Yarrell, " that when a shark and 

 his pilot were following a vessel, if meat was thrown overboard 

 cut into small pieces, and therefore unworthy the shark's atten- 

 tion, the pilot-fish showed his true motive of action by de- 

 serting both shark and ship to feed at his leisure on the 

 morsels." 



The family of the anguilliform fishes, characterised by their 

 serpent-like bodies, destitute of ventral fins, and generally 

 covered by a slippery skin, with, in some of the genera, small 

 scales embedded therein, likewise comprises a number of highly 

 interesting and useful species, forming many generic groups. 



Its chief representative in our waters is the Common Eel 

 [Anguilla vulgaris), which, though a frequent inhabitant of 

 our lakes, ponds, and rivers, may also justly be reckoned among 

 the marine fishes ; for the same wonderful instinct which prompts 

 the salmon and the sturgeon annually to leave the high seas 

 and seek the inland streams for the sake of perpetuating their 

 race, forces also the eel to migrate, but his peregrinations are 

 of an opposite character, for here the full-grown fishes descend 

 the rivers to deposit their spawn in the sea, and the young, 

 after having been born in the brackish estuaries, ascend the 



