154 
KOCK GOBY. 
an opportunity when the tide has been of unusual height. 
But in these pools they continue for life, safe from the 
depredations of the shag and cormorant, which are ever 
prowling round the shores in search of the smaller fishes they 
can meet with there. The pools are clothed with green oreweeds, 
on which the Gobies sometimes feed, for I have found it in 
their stomachs; yet it does not appear natural to them, for I 
have seen it, as it has passed into the intestines, very little, 
if at all digested. Their more appropriate food seems to be 
the abundance of crustacean animals which are bred in these 
haunts, and they are seen to rise to the surface, and seize 
the flies that have alighted for a moment to rest themselves. 
They take an appropriate bait eagerly, and I have taken a 
Shanny of two inches in length from the stomach of a Goby 
that but little exceeded six inches. When they have seized 
their prey of a size greater than they are able to swallow 
with ease, they carry it off to a safe place, and there appear 
as if struggling with it in the act of devouring it. 
This fish has a sharp sight, and, when alarmed, which is 
easily effected, it darts away for shelter to some well-known 
crevice, where its colour, which resembles that of the rock, 
secures it from discovery. When at ease it rests on the ground, 
but there is no reason to suppose that the characteristic structure 
of the ventral fin affords any power of adhering to the sub- 
stance on which it rests, and when kept in captivity the use 
made of it appears to be only for mechanical support. When 
once settled in their limited domain, it does not appear 
probable that they ever leave it again, since I have never met 
with them of proportionate size in other situations; but those 
which keep on the open shore are usually in oozy places, 
where, when the tide has left them, they find concealment 
under a stone. They are equally capable of living in fresh 
and salt water, and even if changed suddenly from one of these 
to the other. I have found an individual with enlarged roe 
in February, and very young ones, which appeared to belong 
to this species, in the autumn. 
If we may trust the poet Martial, there was a Goby that 
was highly valued for the table by the people of Venice in 
ancient times; but with us the whole of them are of small 
account as food. 
