EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY OF LIVE FISHES. 
5 
reminds me of that of a litter of little pigs, with some of the movements characterized 
by a certain kind of cat-like fawning. They feed voraciously and take with avidity 
their natural food, but in the aquarium they usually receive crushed crabs. 
The specimen represented in plate 5, lower figure, shows the handsome vertical 
markings and mottlings that the tautog frequently assumes. At other times it is ot 
a dull leaden-black all over, while some specimens show every variety of intergradation 
between these two extremes. These changes, it would appear, are almost wrought 
at the fish’s will, or they may be indicative of the humor it is in, or a color may be 
assumed that renders the fish less likely to be observed, and this is doubtless of 
value to it in its native waters, where all fish have enemies of one kind or another. 
On the same day this tautog was photographed I secured two successful nega 
fives of the young of the sea bass [Centropristes striatus). There were a number 
of these fish of various sizes in one of the aquaria on the west side of the grotto, and 
the light at the time of taking was excellent. Instantaneous exposures were given, 
and iu one instance the specimen was takeu just as it came to rest upon the bottom 
(plate 6, lower figure), while iu the other it had assumed that remarkable attitude of 
resting upon its pectoral aud anal fins that it has in nature (plate 0, upper figure). 
Both of these results present us with all of the external characters of these fish, aud 
are valuable on that account. This species undoubtedly has the power of changing 
its color at will, both for the purposes of protection as well as to indicate the play of the 
humor it may happen to be in. The various shades are assumed very suddenly, quite 
as much so as I have seen them to be in the American chameleon ( Anolis principalis ) 
of the Southern States. 
Sea bass have beautiful eyes, that change color a little at times, though usually 
they are of a brilliant emerald green, which unfortunately photographs very dull aud 
pale. Their large and handsome fins are almost constantly in motion, rendering it 
extremely difficult to catch this species with the camera. The distal extremity of 
the upper lobe of the tail is seen to project slightly as a blunt point, but is never in 
the young extended as an elongated ornamental filament. In the adult, however, 
of a southern species ( Centropristes ocyurus) both the upper and lower lobes of the 
caudal fin are thus filamentously produced. 
I have also examined specimens of sea bass wherein the middle three rays of the 
tail were likewise somewhat drawn out in this manner. These examples were in the 
Washington Center Market ^October 26, 18!)S), and were said to have come from New 
York. The upper and lower caudal lobes were light-colored, and it was only in the 
former that any indication of a filament was noticed, and that only in some few of the 
specimens. These fish were probably Centropristes ocyurus , wherein the tails had 
suffered mutilations due to transportation after capture. 
Some of the difficulties which attend the photography of living fish are seen in 
plate 9, from an instantaneous exposure (made October 23, 1898) upon the north end 
aquarium of the grotto, when there were swimming in it 450 rainbow trout ( Salmo 
irideus ). Necessarily some of the number were out of focus. The lower ones show 
but little detail, owing to being in the shadow caused by the great mass of fish above 
them, others are indistinct from lateral shadows, and at the best the light at the time 
of exposure was not of the kind to insure the most perfect success; nevertheless, 
this result is a very interesting one, and probably not many photographs extant, if 
any, show so mauy examples of swimming fish upon the one plate, where not a single 
individual of them exhibited the least movement in its photograph. 
