Dec. 14, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



603 



FISH OUT OF WATER. 

 There is remarkable variation in the period during 

 which different fish continue to live when removed 

 from their native element. Thus the herring, as is well 

 known, dies almost immediately upon being lifted from 

 the sea ; whence, probably, the now proverbial phrase, 

 " as dead as a herring." Many, as every angler knows, 

 survive for several minutes after being brought into the 

 air, while others, such as the carp, retain their vitality 

 for half an hour, or in some cases even longer still. 

 But there are yet others, again, which are able, not 

 merely to exist for a time when removed from the 

 water, but to leave it for hours or even days together of 

 their own free will, in order that they may journey 



and employing as much exertion in travelling fifty or 

 sixty yards as would have carried them over half a mile 

 at least of ordinary country. 



It has been asserted by more than one writer that this 

 fish possesses — and exercises — the power of ascending 

 the trunks of palm-trees, in quest of any water that may 

 have lodged at the junction of the dead leaves with the 

 stems. But this statement appears to be wholly untrue. 

 Of the migratory performances of the fish, however, 

 there can be no possible doubt ; and so well known is 

 its capability of living out of water for a prolonged 

 period, that the fishermen of the Ganges, who use it 

 largely as food, carry it home in a dry earthen vessel, 

 and there leave it alive, perhaps for five or six days, 

 until required for use. And at the end of that time it is 

 still healthy and vigorous. And many of the Indian 

 jugglers carry a specimen or two about with them in 



Climbing Perch. 



overland to other water at a considerable distance. And 

 such peregrinations have even been known to take place 

 beneath the fierce rays of an almost tropical sun. 



The best known of these fishes is undoubtedly the 

 famous Climbing Perch (Anabas scandens), a denizen of 

 various Asiatic rivers, and a representative of a genus 

 containing several species, all of which are gifted with 

 similar powers. Inhabiting, as it so commonly does, the 

 smaller streams, which practically cease to exist during 

 the hotter months of the year, it frequently finds its 

 native waters failing, and thereupon crawls ashore, 

 works itself along by means of the alternate action of 

 the lower fins, and starts off in search of more suitable 

 quarters. Not uncommonly this singular fish is met 

 with in great numbers, all journeying along together. 

 Sir J. Emerson Tennent, for example, has published an 

 account, supplied to him by an eye-witness, of the 

 wanderings of quite a small host, which were passing 

 over ground baked and cracked by the heat of the sun, 



much the same manner, as part of their stock 01 appa- 

 ratus. 



Another fish ot somewhat similar habits is the Cora- 

 mota, or Walking Fish {Ophioccphalus gachua), which is 

 a native of Eastern India and the Indian Archipelago, 

 and is again the representative of a somewhat numerous 

 family. Like the climbing perch, it is quite a well-known 

 traveller, and there is a widely-spread popular im- 

 pression to the effect that it is brought down from the 

 clouds in a storm of rain, just as has so often been 

 reported of frogs in our own country. But the true ex- 

 planation is a very simple one. As the summer advances 

 and the smaller streams dry up, the water lies for a time 

 in small pools here and there in their beds, and to these 

 pools the fish resort in great numbers. As the heat in- 

 creases, however, even these evaporate ; and so the fish 

 are left buried in the mud. There, however, they live 

 quite uninjured until a few hours of tropical rain soften 

 the baked earth and set them free. And then they 



