ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the New York Zoological Society 



Vol. XVI 



MARCH, 1913 



Number 50 



UGLY FISHES 



THE charm of beauty has been sung by 

 poet and discussed by philosopher from 

 time immemorial, but the fascination of 

 ugliness has been almost wholly neglected. 

 Beauty of form, of motion, of color in all nature 

 have been extolled as though there were in 

 reality more of nature in the presence of these 

 qualities than in their absence. 



Considering this attitude of the human mind 

 toward that which it holds to be praiseworthy 

 in nature, it is not strange that much has been 

 written concerning the fine 

 colors, the grace of motion 

 or the symmetry of form of 

 many or even of most fishes, 

 since most fishes do possess 

 one or all of these qualities 

 to some noticeable degree. 

 Now while there can not be 

 the slightest objection to 

 lauding the beautiful. 1 

 maintain that the few fishes 

 which do happen to be lack- 

 ing in this respect should 

 not go unmentioned on that 

 account. For while sym- 



metry, grace and pleasing colors undoubtedly 

 may make a fish attractive, yet even in the ab- 

 sence of these qualities it is possible for a fish to 

 be attractive by reason of positive ugliness. I 

 say positive ugliness, for ugliness such as is 

 possessed by the fishes mentioned in this article 

 is not to be classed with mere absence of beauty. 

 Like the ugly man in the story, these fishes are 

 "professionals" and have a deep-seated, in- 

 growing ugliness that gives them a fascination 

 all their own. 



COMMON PUFFER 



