Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-11-20
A Queer Fish.

THAT most curious fish, the anabas-
which respires and lives and thrives as
well out OF water as in it; which has its
,aampages upon the plains and fresh pas
lures as well as it's gambols among the
weeds under the briny waves, and which
| is even reported to climb aerial trees as
easy as it does the coral shrubs of the
sea-has been known from remote antiq-
| uity to exist among the wonders of the
East, but never until now has it visited
the Western world. France is the fortu-
nate country which, thanks to the learned
pisciculturist, nj. Carbonnier, has well
coined into its aquariums living ana
bas from the far-off Indies. There is
nothing in the exterior appearance of the
anabas to indicate its aerial habits or
capacities. 1t is purely a fish in it's form
alton, and its power of creeping or walk.
ing upon the earth is due simply to the
fins and tail which control it's movements
in the sea, and which belong only to the
tribes of the finny deep. A post mortem
examination is necessary to discover the
secret of it's amphibiousness. In the
head is found the special organ which
invests it with the faculty of living two
lives, as it were-aquatic and aerial. On
each side of the head, instead of being
hard and rigid, as with other fishes,
the upper pharyngeal arches are di-
vided into fine, irregular lamin@ or
plates, more or less numerous, form
ing cavities and little cells
capable of containing considerable
amount of water. The theory of science
has been that fish dies out of water,
not from immediate want of oxygen, but
because the gill become dry and unsuited
to It's transmission. Hence, Cuvier be-
lievcd that the labyrinthiform cavity in
the head of the anabas was a reservoir
of water which the fish carried full when
it went upon It's land excursions for the
purpose of moistening it's gills when oc-
casion required. The French scientists,
however, have discovered that it is moth
ing of the sort; that Cuvier, so long an
undisputed authority in the matter, was
wholly mistaken; and that the cavity so
far from being water reservoir, as al
legged, never contains water, but has SIM
ply surface that secretes certain hui
midity in which the air for respiration
is maintained. The anabas inhabits all
parts of India and the Indian archipel-
ago, living mostly in marshes and inlets
which are occasionally dry. When it's
habitaes are destitute of water the ana
bas, fish as it is, fees to the land in
search of livelihood. It's peregrina-
tfons continue many days, and some
times even months. Nothing is more
curious and interesting than its manner
of locomotion. No sooner is it upon
terra firma than it closes it's mouth and
it's opercules or gillcovers, and no con-
traction or Tapping is any longer
seen; then, by general movement, all
it's fins are erected, the pectorals being
extended like two arms the fish supports
itself in an upright position by means of
strokes right and left with it's tail; and
aided by an inferior propulsion of the
anal fin it progresses with lively and
easy motion, using it's arms like oars as
it were, and sculling from side to side
alternately, in accord with the strokes of
the tail AS to the ability of the anabas
to climb trees, modern skepticism gen.
orally regards that merely fish story,
although enthusiastic naturalists con-
tinue to assert the fact, and even to YER
ify by statements which challenge both
charity and incredulity. In the latter
part of the last century Danish gentle
man, M. Duldorff, communicated an ac-
count of the habits of the anabas to the
Linn@an Society of London, in which he
stated that he had himself seen it in the
act of ascending a palm tree, and had
taken it at a height of five feet from the
ground. And M. de la Blanchere, from
whose statement in La Nature we have
derived the fact here given, afirms that
friend assured him that he had shot an
anabas in tree In view of this mar
velous assurance, M. Blanchere naively
remarks that truth is sometimes stranger
than fiction.-B0sto7a Traveller.