112 A NATURALIST IN CELEBES ch. vi 



Some of those curious flattened fish with rather pointed 

 projecting jaws, the Chaetodons, may frequently be seen 

 swimming about on the edges of the reef, apparently feed- 

 ing upon the younger branches of the corals. Most of 

 them are of a bright yellow or orange colour, marked with 

 blotches of black and blue or stripes of red and purple, or 

 covered with small spots of the same colours. 



I have often watched the Chaetodons for hours from 

 the pier. One species in particular (C ephippium ?) was 

 very commonly to be seen feeding on the zoophytes which 

 grow upon the wooden piles on which the pier is built. 

 Like many other fishes, the greater part of their lives seems 

 to be passed in hovering or resting in the water, just slightly 

 moving their tails to keep themselves in the same position, 

 with their heads towards the quarter from which the tide is 

 flowing. They will rest for hours without feeding, or even 

 noticing the actions of the swarms of little fishes which 

 are swimming round them. When doing this they invari- 

 ably swim in an upright position, that is to say, dorso- 

 ventrally upright like an ordinary fish ; but when feeding 

 or frightened by an enemy they often turn upon their 

 sides, and have then an appearance not unlike that of an 

 ordinary flat fish. 



Some of the Serranidae and Mesoprions fairly common 

 in some places on the reefs are also very brilliantly and 

 beautifully marked. A red mesoprion is said to be one of 

 the finest fish brought to the Manado market-place. I 

 have often tasted it, but cannot say that it is anything to 

 boast about. Fishes caught in tropical waters are never 

 very tasty. 



Nor must I omit to mention the trigger-fishes, easily 

 recognised by the curious trigger-like arrangement of the 

 dorsal spines and their sharp-pointed incisor-like teeth. A 

 small specimen of Balistes aculeatus was one of the first 



