PIKES, ARAPAIMAS, BEAKED SALMON, SCOPELIDS 257 
from Bombay and the coast of Malabar, and forms an indispensable adjunct to an Indian curry. 
This fish apparently inhabits considerable depths, and when freshly taken is brilliantly 
phosphorescent. Another edible species is the “ SERGEANT Baker ” of Australia, of which a 
photograph is given on page 653. 
With regard to the deep-sea Scopelids, it is interesting to note that, in addition to very 
remarkable modifications of the eyes and fins, and the production of phosphorescent light, 
certain of the body-cavities are characterised by an intensely black coloration. The inside of 
the mouth, the gills, and the lining of the abdomen, for e.xample, are always so coloured in 
those fishes which inhabit the deepest abysses. This coloration is difficult to account for, but 
Photo by IV, Saville- Kent^ F,Z.S.~\ 
[ Milford-on^Sia 
QUEENSLAND SMELT 
near ally of the Bummaloe, or Bombay Duck, that indispensable adjunct to an Indian curry 
it is generally supposed to be due to excretory products. Another interesting point concerns 
the air-bladder. Whenever this organ is present in the fishes of this or any other family 
inhabiting the abysses of the ocean, it bursts before the unfortunate victim is brought to the 
surface, owing to the enormous differences in pressure which obtain between the depths of 
the sea and the surface. 
CHAPTER XIII 
THE SALMON FAMILY 
BY SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, BART., F.R.S. 
A lthough the Salmon Family occupies a low place in the classification of fishes, yet 
every member thereof is possessed of singular beauty of form and colour. The 
Atlantic Salmon, which is the species frequenting European rivers and those of the 
eastern coast of North America, may be considered the type of the family, and certainly it 
would be difficult to name any animal more perfectly adapted to its peculiar mode of life, 
which is one of constant activity. A native of fresh-water, hatched in early spring from eggs 
laid in rivers during the winter months, it spends from fifteen to twenty-seven months in the 
shallows of the river, almost indistinguishable in habits and appearance from a small common 
trout. Sometimes in the second spring after its birth, and failing that, always in the third 
spring, the fish, having attained the length of 5 or 6 inches, undergoes a wonderful change : 
its prevailing tints of olive and gold become overspread with a glittering coat of silver, known 
