216 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
the light tips of the rays. In older specimens there 
is a more irregular arrangement of dark brown spots 
on the dark greenish body. The colours are also duller 
during winter. 
The Shanny prefers to live above low-water mark, 
and seems, like other members of the genus, to find 
pleasure in being left dry at ebb-tide. It then creeps 
about, or hides under stones or in crevices of the rocks, 
putting out its head and keeping a watchful eye for 
the approach of any danger, whereupon it hurriedly 
disappears. Day gives an observation made by Ross, 
according to which the- Shanny can turn its head, while 
resting in its usual position, on the ventral and pec- 
toral fins; and Couch a who has given the minutest 
details as to the habits of this fish, says that, like the 
chameleon, it has the power of turning its eyes in 
different directions, and thus seeing what is behind and 
before it at the same time. Even in the water it is 
of timid habits, and not without reason, for it is keenly 
pursued by waterfowl, especially cormorants, whose 
narrow beak, with its bent tip, seems especially adapted 
to drag the Shanny from its retreat. Couch kept a 
specimen in captivity for six months. The fish would 
often change colour, without any visible cause. In the 
aquarium lay a stone which projected out of the water, 
and in warm weather the fish crept up on the stone 
to bask in the sun. During the summer it passed half 
its time in this way, high and dry; but in cold weather 
it sank down into the water and hid itself. Ross 
positively asserted that, even in captivity, these mi- 
grations between dry land and water coincided with 
the ebb and flow of the tide; but Couch is equally 
positive in his denial of this circumstance. 
When the tide rises, according to Couch, the 
Shanny goes in quest of food. It lives on all kinds 
of small creatures belonging to the classes of worms, 
mollusks or crustaceans. It seems to be especially fond 
of small shell-fish and Balanids which are attached to 
the rocks. Its bite is powerful, OAving to its sharp in- 
cisor teeth. It is highly impatient of any trespass by 
a comrade upon its hunting-ground, and speedily attacks 
the trespasser. On account of its pugnacity children 
amuse themselves by pitting two Shannies against each 
other and watching them fight. The combatants long- 
refuse to relinquish their hold in their struggles. The 
Shanny also retains its gripe fiercely, if it has seized 
a person’s finger; but its teeth are not strong enough 
to pierce the skin. With this vindictive temper the 
Shanny leads a solitary life, and does not Avander 
far, unfitted as it is for long journies by its heavy 
body, the front part of Avhich is somewhat umvieldy, 
and by the absence of the air-bladder. 
The Shanny deposits its eggs in spring or during 
summer, and, according to Couch, the female displays 
a high degree of discrimination in her choice of a nest. 
She selects a small hole with a narrow entrance, just 
above loAv-water mark, and attaches her bright, amber 
eggs, Avhich are 27 2 mm. in diameter, to the roof of 
the hole, which is thus adorned Avith mosaic. The 
breeding of the Shanny, as it took place in the Man- 
chester Aquarium, is thus described by Saville-Kent 6 : 
“In a tank containing some forty or fifty examples of 
this Blenny, a pair had selected a narrow ledge, high 
up on one side, for the purpose of a nursery. The 
eggs Avere deposited in a single layer upon the ledge, 
first by one and subsequently by a second female, the 
species being thus shown to be polygamous. The male 
had meanwhile undergone a Avonderful colour trans- 
formation, much after the manner of the male of the 
Black Bream ( Can their us lineatus), previously described. 
All the gay mottlings of yellow and brown that usu- 
ally characterise the species, had given way to a uni- 
form tint of deep sooty black, the large, prominent 
lips alone remaining nearly Avhite, his appearance under 
such circumstances being particularly ferocious and 
forbidding. Thus attired he uoav mounted guard over 
the female fish and eggs, his self-appointed task, as 
presently seen, proving no sinecure. The discovery 
Avas soon made, in fact, by the other members of the 
community, that Blennies’ eggs were a choice gastro- 
nomic delicacy, and thenceforAvard our little friend Avas 
scarcely alloA\ r ed an interval of peace. While one fish 
Avas being repulsed in front, another descended upon 
and made off with the coveted booty in the rear; or, 
as frequently happened, there Avas a concerted attack 
along his lines of more than half a dozen fish. Thus 
overpoAvered by numbers, there Avas but little chance 
of a young family descending from the rocky fortress, 
and, indeed, several times Avithin the course of an en- 
tire month spent by the little Blenny in the arduous 
° Hist. Fish. Brit. 1st., vol. II, p. 220. 
b Brit. Mar., Fresliw. Fish., Handb. G-t. Intern. Fish. Exhib. 
London 1883. 
