260 
THE CLIMBING PERCH. 
This remarkable fish is common on the Florida Reef. We have kept it in onr aqnarinm, 
and fonnd it wonderfully lively and interesting. It is one of the few fishes that seem to 
have strong combative impulses. It will bear no trilling, but strikes powerfully with its 
tail, the sharp lance-like weapon proving dangerous to its foes. Pass a rod lightly enough 
towards it, and the Surgeon instantly turns, and, facing the object, makes a thrust with 
savage celerity. 
Nearly allied to the surgeon-fish is a very curious species, called the Unicorn Thorn- 
tail ( JVaseus unicornis ), on account of the singular structure of the forehead, which is 
modified in front into a long and horn-like protuberance, rather conical in shape, and 
projecting forwards in a line with the body. This horn is not to be seen in the young 
fish, and only attains its full dimensions when its owner has reached adult age. Some- 
times the horn is longer than the snout, but in most specimens it is slightly shorter. Each 
side of the tail is furnished with two lancet-bearing plates, which are not movable. 
This species is fonnd 
from the Red Sea to Japan 
and Polynesia. Its color 
is brownish-gray, and the 
dorsal and anal fins are 
marked with longitudinal 
blue stripes. The largest 
specimen I have known of 
measures twenty-two 
inches in length, and its 
horn is three inches long. 
Tiie extraordinary 
fish called, from its habits, 
the Climbing Perch, is a 
native of Asia, and is re- 
markable for its apparent 
disregard of certain natu- 
ral laws. 
This singular creature 
has long been celebrated 
for its powers of volun- 
tarily leaving the failing 
streams, ascending the 
banks, and proceeding over 
dry land towards some 
spot where its unerring in- 
stinct warns it that water 
is yet to be found. There 
are several fish which are 
CLIMBING PERCH .— Anabas scandens. (One-half natural size.) knOWll to have this power ; 
the common eel, for exam- 
ple, which has frequently been observed crossing the fields in its passage from one stream to 
another. I have even seen the eels creeping over rocks, and contriving, in some mysterious 
manner, to crawl along the flat horizontal surface of an overhanging rock as easily as a fly 
walks on the ceiling. But I believe that the eel only passes over moist ground, whereas the 
Anabas seems quite indifferent to such considerations, and takes its journey over hard, dry, 
and dusty roads, heated with the burning beams of the noonday sun, without appearing to 
feel much inconvenience from the strange nature of the transit. 
Several species, of which the Anabas Scandens has been chosen as the best example, 
