INTERESTING CITIZENS OF THE GULF STREAM 



71 



The first objects of interest were the 

 brown pelicans flapping by. Why they 

 did not break their necks on the bottom 

 when they dove precipitously from a 

 height into water not more than two or 

 three inches deep, was something of a 

 problem. 



FISH THAT WEAR VIVID REDS, GREENS, 

 YELLOWS, AND BLUES 



But the pelicans were not alone in their 

 ability to see fish. It was soon discovered 

 that a number of interesting species could 

 be observed swimming along the shore. 

 None were more beautiful or as easily 

 identified as the little schools of Pork 

 Fish (Plate I), with their bright yellow 

 markings set off by the bold black pat- 

 tern on head and shoulders. This fish 

 scarcely belongs with the true, gaudy reef 

 fishes, but rather with those less depend- 

 ent on the protection of the reef, the 

 golds and blues and rose colors of whose 

 livery are often extremely beautiful, yet 

 seldom striking enough to make the fish 

 conspicuous in the water. 



By no means all fishes whose haunts 

 are on and among tropical reefs are 

 brightly colored, but there are a great 

 number of active species found there 

 which wear vivid red, green, yellow, blue, 

 orange, etc., and which, furthermore, 

 are marked in the boldest patterns, fre- 

 quently with black. 



Good examples are the Rock Beauty 

 and the Blue Angel-fish (Plate II). 

 Various parrot-fishes, butterfly - fishes, 

 etc., belong to this class. 



Naturalists have offered in explanation 

 that the reef itself was as full of color 

 as a garden of varied flowers, wherein 

 the very brightness of the fishes rendered 

 them inconspicuous. To most observers, 

 however, a coral reef as a whole appears 

 rather monotonous in tone, the many 

 varied fishes swimming about giving it 

 the principal note of high color, and these 

 not only easily seen but readily identified. 



SOME EISH CAN AFFORD TO BE CON- 

 SPICUOUS 



How many northern fishes can one see 

 and recognize as easily, swimming in the 

 water, as the black and yellow Sergeant 

 Major (Plate VIII), for instance? 



Granted that, in general, these colors 

 render the fish conspicuous, can they be 

 classed as warning colors, like the black- 

 and-yellow striping of wasps? Appar- 

 ently not, for there are plenty of preda- 

 ceous fish which eat some of them and 

 would doubtless be pleased to consume 

 more. 



Immunity colors, they have been called 

 most appropriately. The idea is that a 

 wide-awake, active fish on a coral reef 

 has so many avenues of escape from its 

 enemies, so many projections to dodge 

 behind and holes to hide in, as to be prac- 

 tically immune from attack. It can af- 

 ford to be as conspicuous as it likes. 



Be this as it may, the striking patterns 

 are a great convenience to the ichthyol- 

 ogist, who has to separate one species 

 from another, for nowhere else does one 

 find so many different, but closely re- 

 lated, species living side by side, each 

 doubtless differing from the others in 

 habits in some way, be it ever so slightly. 



THE NUMEROUS FAMILY OF SEA BASSES 



One of the principal families of fishes 

 in our southern fauna is the sea basses, 

 to which the gigantic Jewfish, the rock- 

 fishes, groupers, hinds, and so forth, be- 

 long. These are all fishes which resem- 

 ble our northern Sea Bass. They are 

 big-mouthed and voracious species, liv- 

 ing for the most part about rocky or un- 

 even bottom, though also swimming out 

 over open stretches of sand. 



Many are food-fishes of importance. 

 They have leathery mouths, so that when 

 once hooked they are not easily lost. 

 Though well formed and by no means 

 sluggish, they are solitary and sedentary, 

 as contrasted with the equally abundant 

 predaceous family of snappers, for in- 

 stance. 



Always lurking on the lookout for 

 smaller fishes to come within striking dis- 

 tance, and sometimes associated in con- 

 siderable numbers at favorable localities, 

 they do not range about, hunting in 

 schools, like the snappers. 



The colors of this group are varied and 

 sometimes extremely beautiful, in none 

 more so than in the small Rock Hind 

 (Plate VI), whose home is in the bright 

 lights of the coral reef. But the plan of 

 coloring is such as to lower, not raise, the 



