164 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
was somewhere up the coast, stuck on 
a sand-bank. Meanwhile, there was 
nothing to do but sit and swing one’s 
heels. 
The first objects of interest were the 
brown Pelicans flapping by. Why they 
did not break their necks on the bottom 
when they dove precipitously from a 
height into water not more than two or 
three inches deep, was something of a 
problem. 
FISH THAT WEAR VIVID REDS, GREENS, 
YELLOWS, AND BLUES 
But the pelicans were not alone in their 
ability to see fish. It was soon discovered 
that a number of interesting species could 
be observed swimming along the shore. 
None were more beautiful or as easily 
identified as the little schools of Pork 
Fish (Color Plate, page 175), with their 
bright yellow markings set off by the 
bold black pattern on head and shoulders. 
This fish scarcely belongs with the true, 
gaudy reef fishes, but rather with those 
less dependent on the protection of the 
reef, the golds and blues and rose colors 
of whose livery are often extremely 
beautiful, yet seldom striking enough to 
make the fish conspicuous in the water. 
By no means all fishes whose haunts 
are on and among tropical reefs are 
brightly colored, but there are a great 
number of active species found there 
which wear vivid red, green, yellow, blue, 
orange, etc., and which, furthermore, 
are marked in the boldest patterns, fre¬ 
quently with black. 
Good examples are the Rock Beauty 
and the Blue Angel-fish (Color Plate, 
page 176). Various Parrot-fishes, Butter- 
fly-fishes, etc., belong to this class. 
Naturalists have offered in explanation 
that the reef itself was as full of color 
as a garden of varied flowers, wherein 
the very brightness of the fishes rendered 
them inconspicuous. To most observers, 
however, a coral reef as a whole, appears 
rather monotonous in tone, the many 
varied fishes swimming about giving 
it the principal note of high color, and 
these are not only easily seen but readily 
identified. 
SOME FISH CAN AFFORD TO BE CON- 
. SPICUOUS 
How many northern fishes can one see 
and recognize as easily, swimming in the 
water, as the black and yellow Sergeant 
Major (Color Plate, page 182), for in¬ 
stance? Granted that, in general, these 
colors render the fish conspicuous, can 
they be classed as warning colors, like 
the black-and-yellow striping of wasps? 
Apparently not, for there are plenty of 
predaceous fish which eat some of them 
and would doubtless be pleased to con¬ 
sume more. 
Immunity colors, they have been called 
most appropriately. The idea is that a 
wide-awake, active fish on a coral reef 
has so many avenues of escape from its 
enemies, so many projections to dodge 
behind and holes to hide in, as to be 
practically immune from attack. It 
can afford to be as conspicuous as it 
likes. 
Be this as it may, the striking patterns 
are a great convenience to the ichthyol¬ 
ogist, who has to separate one species 
from another, for nowhere else does one 
find so many different, but closely re¬ 
lated, species living side by side, each 
doubtless differing from the others in 
habits in some way, be it ever so slightly. 
THE NUMEROUS FAMILY OF SEA BASSES 
One of the principal families of fishes 
in our southern fauna is the sea basses, 
to which the gigantic Jewfish, the rock- 
fishes, groupers, hinds, and so forth, be¬ 
long. These are all fishes which resem¬ 
ble our northern Sea Bass. They are 
big-mouthed and voracious species, liv¬ 
ing for the most part about rocky or un¬ 
even bottom, though also swimming out 
over open stretches of sand. 
Many are food-fishes of importance. 
They have leathery mouths, so that when 
once hooked they are not easily lost. 
Though well formed and by no means 
sluggish, they are solitary and sedentary, 
as contrasted with the equally abundant 
predaceous family of snappers, for in¬ 
stance. 
Always lurking on the lookout for 
smaller fishes to come within striking dis¬ 
tance, and sometimes associated in con¬ 
siderable numbers at favorable localities, 
they do not range about, hunting in 
schools, like the snappers. 
The colors of this group are varied and 
sometimes extremely beautiful, in none 
more so than in the small Rock Hind 
(Color Plate, page 180), whose home is in 
the bright lights of the coral reef. But 
