TSB CLIMBING FISH. 



163 



deep ivater again. When spawning they do not take the 

 hook; they are then lean; but at the time of their depart- 

 ure from the coast they are fat and plump. The eggs of 

 the mackerel as well as of the cod are so light as to rise to 

 the surface, where they develop. Allied to the mackerel, 

 though of great size, are the horse-mackerel and the sword- 

 fish, whose upper jaw is greatly prolonged. 



The singular Anabas of the East Indies is the represen- 

 tative of a small group of fishes called Labyrintldci or laby- 

 rinth-fishes, in allusion to a cavity on tlie upper side of the 

 branchial cavity on the first gill-arches, containing a labj- 



FlQ. 215. — The Haddock, Melanogramnxus ceglejinus. 



rinthine organ, which consists of tliin plates, developed 

 from the upper pharyngeal bones, enabling the fish to live 

 for a long time out of water. Anaias scandens, of tlie 

 fresh waters of India, will travel over dry land from one 

 pond to another, and is even said to climb trees by means 

 of the spines in its fins. 



Near the head of the order stands the cunner [Tautogo- 

 lahrus adspersus), whose anatomy is represented by Figs. 

 198-200. Passing over the tautog, the voracious wolf-fish 

 {AnarrMclias), the blennies (Blennidw), in which the body 

 is long and narrow, and the viviparous eel-]iout (Zoarces), 

 the cottoids or sculpins, and a number of allied forms, we 



