STARFISH EATING PIPE-FISH. 



149 



4th the other Starfish, which I will call B, had found the second 

 Nerophis cequoreus, from which it had digested part of the skin 

 and the walls of the abdomen, the contents of the abdomen 

 having disappeared so completely that the vertebral column and 

 the large plates of the sides of the body were, though still in 

 their natural positions, quite clean ; in fact, for a distance of 

 an inch and three-quarters the fish had been skeletonized. 



At 10 a.m. Starfish B quitted its Pipe-fish, and moved towards 

 the Pipe-fish which was being eaten by Starfish A. Starfish A 

 had been distant only about three inches from B, and it is 



Fig. 2. 



possible that the latter moved towards A's prey merely by 

 accident, and not because it had discovered the presence of 

 another Pipe-fish. Nevertheless, when it reached the tail end of 

 A's Pipe-fish it immediately humped up its body in the usual way, 

 and for an hour or so the two Starfishes divided the Pipe-fish 

 between them, Starfish A holding the anterior portion, and B 

 the hinder portion. Starfish B, however, quitted the Pipe-fish 

 without, so far as I could see, having digested any part of it ; at 

 all events that part of the fish over which the Starfish had sat 

 had its skin still unbroken. This may have been due to the fact 

 that the hunger of Starfish B had already been almost satisfied, 

 or, as seems more likely, that the constant movements made by 

 Starfish A and communicated to the long body of the Pipe-fish 

 annoyed or frightened away Starfish B. 



