184 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
THE AQUARIUM, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 
Located on the very Gulf Stream itself, the exhibit of fishes of the warm sea to be seen within the 
Miami Aquarium are unexcelled in variety and beauty of color anywhere in the world. The Aquarium 
gardens contain numerous varieties of beautiful palms and subtropical flora. 
alertness and agility, dodging about the 
many projections and irregularities of 
rock. But now we have the Wrasse 
cornered and believe we have it in an in¬ 
stant, when suddenly it has disappeared. 
Surely it did not dodge past and make 
good its escape in that way. Where can 
it be? Two or three minutes of careful 
scrutiny are rewarded. There it is, mo¬ 
tionless, squeezed into a crevice of the 
side of the pool just large enough to hold it. 
Swimming actively about, it was 
scarcely less conspicuous than the Ser¬ 
geant Majors, but it has now, further¬ 
more, changed color, so as to have a very 
low visibility in its sheltered nook. Here 
we have an illustration in detail of how 
various theoretical types of coloring work 
out. While swimming about with them 
the Wrasse had a conspicuous immunity 
pattern like the Sergeant Majors; now, 
in the twinkling of an eye, it is a con- 
cealingly colored fish. 
THE SAND FLOUNDER DEFIES DETECTION 
We have been speaking of fishes which 
no one will hesitate to admit are conceal- 
ingly colored; but, lying in plain view on 
the sand, there is a little pale-colored 
Sand Flounder so exceedingly incon¬ 
spicuous that it is unlikely that we shall 
see it unless the water is drawn out of 
the pool and its inhabitants raked into 
our collecting bottles. 
NOISY FISHES OF THE DEEP 
One thinks of fishes as leading a life 
of perpetual silence down there under 
the waters. This generalization is not 
in all cases true, however. Lying an¬ 
chored in a small boat at night in Florida 
waters, one may sometimes hear a school 
of Sea-drum go swimming by below. 
“Wop, wop, wop,” they seem to say. 
Then there is the little Trumpet-fish, so 
called, whose identity is open to question, 
technically speaking, that will at times 
lurk under the boat and intrigue you with 
its elfin tooting. 
Many species utter croaking or grunt¬ 
ing sounds when caught, the various 
species of Grunts owing their name to 
this habit. 
Grunts are fish somewhat resembling 
snappers in appearance and to a certain 
extent in habit, but smaller and less vig- 
