Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-05-19
Ye guides Of other men,
FISHES AND THEIR VIBRATIONS.

From an interesting article in the April number
of PyfHGm'S Monthly for April, entitled Mature
in Notion" we clip the following paragraphs:
For known and for unknown purposes, in the
tiny mountain brooks and in the wide ocean, fish
es are seen in unceaSing motion, darling i'll all di-
rectlUus, travelling now single and now in shoals.
Their regular journeys are mostly undertaken for
the purpose OF spawning; the delicate mackerel
moves southwark when its time comes, and the
beautiful sardire Of the Mediterranean goes in
spring westward, and returns in autumn to the
East. The sturgeon of northern Europe is seen
singly to ascend the great rivers of the Continent.
and the ornal or migratory salmon of the polar
seas travels, we know not how, through river and
lake, up into the Baikol, and there swims. in whim-
steal alterations, but always in immense crowds,
first on the southern and then on tho northern
bank. The travels of the salmon are probably
best known, because the fish was Il fayorlte already
in the days of Pliny, and yet, strange enough. is
found in every sea in the Arctic, near the equator,
and of New Holland, Only not i'll the Med.terra-
mean. They press IN large, triangular masses up
all the great northern rivers of Europe. Asia, and
America. They enter Bohemia with Shakespeare
by sea, sailing u1 the river Elbe; they approach
Switzerland in the green waters Of the Rhine, and
even the foot of the Cordilleras by Il journey of s.
900 miles up the Amazon. Their crowds are not
rntrequently 50 dense that they actually stem for
awhile the current of mighty rivers; still these
bands are formed with great regularity. The
strongest and largest females lead-a fact which
will rejOi &c the strong minded women Of our age
followed by others of the same sex, travelling
two and two at regular intervals; after them come
the males in like order. With a noise like the dis
tant roaring of Il storm, they rush up the stream,
now sporting in easy, graceful motion. and now
darling ahead with lightning speed that the eye
can not follow. Do they come to some rock or wall
that ~impedes their way, they leap with incredible
force, and repeat the effort until they have over
4 come the difficulty it is even said that, at the foot
{ Of the cataracts, they will take their tail in their
mouth and then suddenly letting it GO, like AT
n elastic spring, rise twelve or fifteen feet in the
s air. And thus they travel on, undismayed and un
e tired, until they have found a suitable place for de
posting their eggs, and with the same marvelou
G ocean.
o The herring is a small, insignificant fish. yet
gives food to millions; and employment to not les
q than 5000 decked vessels, not to speak of all til
g open boats employed in the same fishery. Wher
their home is, man does not know; it is only ceI
i tain that they arc MT met with beyond a certal
d degree of northern lttitude, and that the genuin
% herring never enters the Mediterranean and henc
remained unknown to the ancients. In April an
F. June, all of a sudden, innumerable masses appea
in the northern seas, forming vast banks, utte
thirty miles long and ten miles wide. Their dept
NJ has never leen satisfactorily ascertained, and the
denseness may be judged by the fact, that lance
~ and h%arpOOns thrust in between them sink not an
i move not, remain standing upright! Divided int
,r bands, behring's also move in a certain order. Lon
W before their arrival, already their coming is notice
Y by the nocks OF sea-birds that watch them irol
II on high, while sharks are seen to sport arouu
70 them, and a thick oily or Shiny substance is sprca
A. over their columns, colprinS the sea ia daytime
and shining with II mild, mysterious light in Il dar
still night. The sea-ape, the 'mOnstrous chimerN
of the learned, preeedes them, and is hence /
L. fishermen called the king Of the hcrrings. The
n there are first seen single males, often three or fu
Mt days in advance Of the great army; next followe
the strongest and largest, and after them enOrmou
n shoals; countless like the sand on the sea-shore an
. the stars in heaven. They seek places that aboun
re in stones aud marine plants, where to spawn, an
ID like other animals they frequent the localities
which they haze become accustomed at a regula
time, so that they may lie expected as surely Il
ID the sun rises and sets.
Other fishes have strange peculiarities connecte
at with their travels. Thus, we are told that I'll
rs mackerels spend their winter in, what would a
pear to others, a most uncomfortable position. ]
=, the Arctic as well as in the Mediterranean as SOC
as winter comes, they deliberately plunge the
head and the anterior part OF their body into dee
0a mud, keeping their tails erected, standing straigh
up. This position they do not change until sprin
n when they emerge, in incredible numbers, fro
their hiding-places and go sOuthward for the pu
ID pose Of depositing their eggs in more genial W
ters. Still they are so firmly welded to this ell
u ment that they die the instant they are taken OF
h. of the watsr, aud then shine with phosphorescel
w light.
The eel Is the strangest Of travelling fishes; /
even performs journeys on land. In hot, dry sun
mers, when ponds and pools are exhausted, l.
boldly leaves his home, and winding through THE
70 grass, makes his way by night to the nearest W,
ter. lie is a great g%ourmand, moreover, and love
young tender peas so dearly that he will leave tt
river itself and climb up steep banks to satisfy b
desire, and, alas! to fall into the snares Of wicke
7 men. Other fishes travel in large crowds all nigl
long, and a perch in TranQucbar not only creeI
ON shore, but actually climbs up tail fanYalns, i
pursuit of certain sheli-fsh. which form its fave
tie food. Covered with viscid slime, he glide
smoothly over the rough bark, spines, which /
may sheathe and unfold at will, serve him liz
hands to hang by, and with the aid Of side fl
and a powerful tail he pushes himself upwar,
thus completing the strange picture Of fish an
~shell-fsh dwelling high on lofty trees.
of