THE SNAKE PIPE-FISH. 
292 
plants, forming a protection to tlie fisn as it floats among algse 5 its general appearance like 
some floating object covered, by leaves of seaweeds. Pew examples of protective resemblance 
aie so veiy apparent, for here the beanty of form so often noticed in fins of fishes, is sacrificed 
to the more practical and useful imitation of straggling weeds. The male of this sea-horse 
receives its eggs in a pouch on its ventral surface. When they hatch they press the pouch 
against some hard substance, which forces them out. The Pipe-fish— of this group— also 
mimics to a certain extent weeds or floating sticks. The male receives the eggs from the 
female, and carries them in 
a pouch. In one species 
found in the Indian Ocean, 
the female carries its young 
in a pouch formed by the 
two ventral fins held to- 
gether by filaments which 
extend from its sides. The 
figure given in the illustra- 
tion is of natural size. 
Ix the illustration on 
page 291, is also shown the 
Great Pipe-fish:, which is 
often called the Bill-fish 
and Needle-fish. It is one 
of the commonest species of 
its genus. 
This creature is found 
along the English shores, 
HORSE-LIKE PHYLLOPTERYX . — PliyUopteryx eques. and Call mostly be Captured 
at low water among the sea- 
weed that has been left in the rock pools. To watch these remarkable fishes is an interesting 
occupation, for they assume such odd attitudes and perform such curious movements, that 
they never fail to arrest the attention, and never tire the observer. Sometimes they may be 
seen swimming about with tolerable speed like other fishes, their curious dorsal fins working 
like an Archimedean screw, and their long snouts being poked into every crevice. Sometimes, 
assuming a perpendicular attitude, they put their noses to the ground, and hold their tails 
aloft, while with their beak-like snouts they stir the sand, or, by ejecting water from their 
mouths, blow little hollows in it, probably for the purpose of disturbing the minute crustaceans 
and other marine creatures that find refuge in such localities. 
The color of the Great Pipe-fish is pale brown, diversified with transverse bars of a dark 
tint. The average length of a fine specimen is about eighteen inches, but it is said that the 
fish sometimes attains a length of two or even three feet. 
Several species of this genus inhabit European waters, a rather curious example being the 
Shake Pipe-fish (Syngnathus anguineus). This little fish is remarkably slender, and 
altogether snake-like in form, its length being about fourteen inches, and its thickness scarcely 
exceeding that of a common goose-quill. The dorsal fin is set very far forward. The tail fin 
is very tiny, and might easily escape observation altogether. 
The rather quaint-looking species which is represented in the accompanying illustration, 
is a good example of a remarkable order of fishes, where the body is covered with hard bony 
scales that do not overlap each other, but are arranged side by side, like the tiles of a 
pavement, or the cubes of mosaic work. This bony armor is very hard and smooth externally, 
being covered with a thin layer of a kind of enamel. 
