232 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
The Blennies are fishes whose skins are soft, slimy, and quite scaleless, or at most 
covered with very tiny and degenerate scales. The general form of the body may be seen in 
the photograph below. They are shore-fishes, lurking about in the crevices of rocks, among 
seaweed, or under stones, and occurring generally along the coasts of temperate and tropical 
regions. The species known as the Sea-c.\T or WOLF-FiSH is, however, a deep-water form. 
As a rule the eggs are deposited in hollow places between stones or rocks; but in the 
Butter-fisii, or Gunnel, the eggs are adhesive, and the parents roll them into a ball by 
coiling their bodies round them. Furthermore, since the parents are frequently found, under 
natural conditions, coiled round these masses of spawn, it appears that they adopt this method 
of guarding their treasures. Some species bring forth their young alive. 
The largest of the family is the WOLF-FlSU, whose jaws are armed with very powerful 
teeth, able to crush the hardest shells, such as those of the whelk. Sea-urchins and crabs are 
also eaten. 
We pass on to a group comprising three families — the B.\rracud.\s, Sand-SMELTs, and 
Grey Mullets. 
It should be mentioned that two very distinct fishes are known as BARRACUDAS, one of 
which we have already described 
under the name of Snoek. The 
forms described here as barracudas 
are large, voracious fishes living 
in tropical and sub-tropical seas, 
and evincing a preference for the 
coast rather than the open sea. 
Attaining a length of 8 feet and 
a weight of 40 lbs., they are a 
source of danger to bathers. They 
are very frequently used as food, 
though in the West Indies such 
food is attended with some danger, 
as the flesh is often poisonous, 
from the fish having fed on smaller 
poisonous fishes. 
The S.VND-S.MELTS are small 
carnivorous species inhabiting the 
seas of temperate and tropical 
regions. Many enter fresh-water, 
and some have become entirely acclimatised there. Some species bear a very close resemblance 
to the true smelt, from which, however, they may be readily distinguished by their small, 
spinous, first back-fin. The young of at least one small group or genus of this family are 
remarkable for their habit of clinging together for some time after they are hatched in dense 
masses and almost incredible numbers. 
The Grey Mullets are brackish-water fishes, feeding on vegetable growths and minute 
shell-fish. They also suck up large quantities of sand into the mouth for the sake of the 
minute organisms contained therein ; much of this is passed on into the stomach, which is 
thick and muscular, like that of many birds. Altogether some seventy species of grey mullets 
are known, the majority of which attain a weight of about 4 lbs., but there are many which grow 
to 10 or 12 lbs. All are eaten, and some highly esteemed. 
The Flute-mouths, Sticklebacks, and Tortoise-fishes are three closely allied and 
extremely interesting families. The first are really gigantic marine sticklebacks, in which the 
jaws are produced into a long tube. They are shore-fishes, entering brackish water, and 
confined to sub-tropical and tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. 
Of the Stickleb.acks there are several species, some of which are entirely salt-water fishes 
Photo by Reinhold I'hieU Co.] \_Chan(ery Lane^ W. C, 
BLENNY 
Blennies ha've soj't, shiny^ scaUIesi skins 
