FISHES. 17 
for its shape it could not have been known as 
a Trout. Trout when killed sometimes lose their 
colour; but here was a Fish which, but a few 
minutes before, was perfectly bright, and suddenly, 
while alive, had become totally discoloured and 
black in the water, though apparently uninjured 
in any way ; and probably in a few minutes after 
being liberated, it would have regained its former 
beautiful hue.”^ 
The food of Fishes is for the most part animal. 
Some browse the seaweeds that wave around the 
rocks of the coast, and others nibble the soft parts 
of fresh-water vegetation ; but the great majority 
are carnivorous. The immense number and va- 
riety of soft-bodied animals that inhabit the sea, 
the Actinice, the Medusce^ the Annellida^ and the 
naked Mollusca, afford food to multitudes; others 
are furnished with strong teeth to grind down 
the newly formed parts of coral, and devour the 
living polyps ; and a large number feed greedily 
on Star-fishes, Crustacea^ and the shelled MoU 
lusca. In the fresh-waters, worms, leeches, and 
the larvae of insects supply the appetite of many. 
But in addition to all these sources of supply, 
Fishes everywhere feed upon Fishes. The smaller 
are seized and devoured by those which are able 
to master them, and these again become the prey 
of their superiors ; until every Fish sees in his 
fellow either a victim to be pursued and devoured, 
or an enemy to be avoided. 
At first sight it seems a dreadful state of ex- 
istence, this incessant preying of the stronger 
animals upon the weaker ; and humbling indeed 
the contemplation of it should be to us, as a sad 
* New Sporting Magazine, N.S. i. 404. 
