Fish Study 157 



7. Describe the bullhead's eyes. Are they large? What is their 

 color? Where are they placed? 



8. Describe the dorsal fin, giving its comparative size and position. 

 Do you see another dorsal fin ? Where is this peculiar fin and how does it 

 differ from the others ? 



9. Describe the tail fin. Does it seem long and strong? Is the 

 bullhead a good swimmer? 



10. Is the anal fin large or small as compared with that of the gold- 

 fish? 



11. How do the pectoral fins move as compared with those of the 

 sunfish? Why is the position of the pectoral and dorsal fins of benefit to 

 this fish? 



12. How does the bullhead inflict wounds when it is handled? Tell 

 how these spines protect it from its natural enemies. 



13. When is the best season for fishing for bullheads? Does the 

 place where they are found affect the flavor of their flesh? Why? 



14. What is the spawning season? Do you know about the nests 

 the bullheads build and the care they give their young? 



15. Write an essay on the nest-making habits of the bullheads and 

 the care given the young by the parents. 



"And what fish will the natural hoy naturally take? In America, there is but one 

 fish which enters fully into the spirit of the occasion. Jt is a fish of many species 

 according to the part of the country, and of as many sizes as there are sizes of boys. 

 This fish is the horned pout, and all the rest of the species of Ameiurus. Horned pout 

 is its Boston name. BuHhead is good enough for New York; and for the rest of the 

 country, big and little, all the fishes of this tribe are called catfish. A catfish is a jolly 

 blundering sort of a fish, a regular Falstafj of the ponds. It has a fat jowl, and a fat 

 belly, which it is always trying to fill. Smooth and sleek, its skin is almost human in its 

 delicacy. It wears a long mustache , with scattering whiskers of other sort. Mean- 

 while it always goes armed with a sword, three swords, and these it has always on hand, 

 always ready for a struggle on land as well as in the water. The small boy often gets 

 badly stuck on these poisoned daggers, but, as the fish knows how to set them by a mus- 

 cular twist, the small boy learns how, by a like untwist, he may unset and leave them 

 harmless. 



The catfish lives in sluggish waters. It loves the millpond best of all, and it has no 

 foolish dread of hooks when it goes forth to bite. Its mouth is wide. It swallows the 

 hook, and very soon it is in the air, its white throat gasping in the untried element. Soon 

 it joins its fellows on the forked stick, and even then, uncomfortable as it may find its 

 new relations, it never loses sight of the humor of the occasion. Its large head and 

 expansive forehead betoken a large mind. It is the only fish whose brain contains a 

 Sylvian fissure, a piling up of tisstie consequent on the abundance of gray matter. So 

 it understands and makes no complaint. After it has dried in the sun for an hour, pour 

 a little water over its gills, and it will wag its tail, and squeak with gratitude. And the 

 best of all is, there are horned pouts enough to go around." 



"The female horned potU lays thousands of eggs, and when these hatch, she goes 

 about near the shore with her school of little fishes, like a hen with myriad chicks. She 

 should be respected and let alone, for on her success in rearing this breed of "bullying 

 little rangers' dBpmds the sport of the small boy of the future.' ' 



— David Starr Jordan, in Fish Stories. 



