216 
THE HOPLOSTETHTJS. 
little creatures, and I am told by an angler friend that they destroy quantities of the spawn 
of other fish, and seize upon the young as soon as they are hatched. He also informs me that 
they are extremely capricious in their choice of locality. For example, at the head of a mill- 
stream they may be found by thousands, while at the tail of the same stream not a single 
Stickleback can be found. There are parts of rivers where they are so plentiful that the fisher 
is entirely baffled in his sport by these little creatures eating his bait before it sinks to its full 
depth, while the middle of the stream might be quite free from them. 
The Ten-spined Stickleback does not like salt water, and cannot be acclimatized to the 
marine aquarium like its three-spined relative. All the Sticklebacks are remarkable for the 
comparative nakedness of the skin, which for the most part bears no scales, as in the gener- 
ality of fish, and in the Ten-spined species is wholly naked. The place of the scales is sup- 
plied by certain bony or scaly plates upon the side, and it is the nakedness of the skin which 
permits the colors of these little fish to glow with such bright and changeful hues. 
The color of this species is green upon the back, and on the abdomen and sides silvery- 
white spotted minutely with black. The fins are very slightly tinged with yellow. The length 
of the Ten-spined Stickleback is variable, but rarely exceeds two inches. 
The Fifteen-spined Stickleback, Sea-Addee, or Bismobe, is wholly a marine species, 
and is nearly as common as its companion on the picture on page 213. 
It is remarkably elongated in proportion to its width, and this formation, together with 
its armature of sharp, tootli-like spines, has gained it the name of Sea- Adder. It is a voracious 
creature, feeding on all sorts of marine animals, mollusks, worms, eggs, and fry, and minute 
crustaceans. Mr. \ arrell advises the collector of marine crustaceans to examine carefully the 
stomachs of the shore-frequenting fishes, and especially of this species, as he will be likely to 
discover some curious species of those animals, too active or too small to lodge in his net, but 
uuable to avoid the quick eye and ready jaws of the Stickleback. The same writer mentions 
that on one occasion, when a Fifteen-spined Stickleback had been caught with a net and 
placed in water together with a small eel, three inches in length, the voracious creature seized 
on the eel in a very short time, and contrived to swallow it. The eel, however, was too long 
to be wholly accommodated in the stomach of the Stickleback, and after a while was disgorged, 
only partly digested. 
As in the case of the frog, the color of the Stickleback varies with singular rapidity, 
being dull or bright according to the mental emotions of the individual. 
We now arrive at another family of fishes, in which the body is rather compressed — 
i. e . , flattened sideways — the eyes are large, and the mouth oblique. It is scientifically 
known by the name of Berycidee, and all its members are inhabitants of the tropical and 
temperate seas. 
Our first example of this family is the Japanese Single-thoen. 
In all the fishes of this genus, the scales are rather large, very strong, and so closely com- 
pacted together, that they form a strong, mailed covering to the body. The name of Mono- 
centris, or Single-thorn, is derived from the curious modification of the ventral fins, which are 
devoid of membrane, and are reduced to a single, very strong, and rather lengthened spine, 
and a few very short rays. In the place of the dorsal fin are four or five thick spines, and the 
shield -like scales of the body are rough, projecting, and keeled. 
The Japanese Single-thorn is an inhabitant, as its name imports, of the seas of Japan, and 
is almost, if not quite, the only species of its genus. It is chiefly remarkable for the size of 
its head, the strong, thorn-like spines, and the mailed suit of hard and projecting scales. It 
is of a tolerably uniform color, its whole body being silvery -white, and its length is about six 
or seven inches. 
The large-eyed and deep-bodied fish, Hoplostethus, or Armed-breast, derives its name 
from the strong and sharp spines which are placed on the scapular bone and the angle 
of the prseoperculum. Like the last-mentioned species, it seems to be the only member of 
its genus. 
This fish is found in the Mediterranean, and is not uncommon on the coast of Madeira. 
