Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-08-15
FISH NRST-BUILDKRS.
SECRETS OF THE SEA AND ITS
FINYY CREATURES.
Curious Beds BuiIt in the Tropical
Seas Seaweed Photographs
on the Sides OF Fishes.

of alcohol. The seaweed is covered with
white. oval dots, and the label on the bot
tie reads autennarias. What do you
make of it?" inquired the writer of
friend who was also going the rounds, and
who was something of a naturalist 1T
isn't very attractive TO look at, was the
reply, but it is one of the most interesting
OF the nest-building fishes"
DO fish build nests?" asked q listener.
"a great many do" was the reply; "in
fact, the fishes are the birds of the sea.
The first time ever saw this fish alive"
continued the naturalist, a. was on a
schooner bound from Nassau TO Kew
West, and one day there being no wind,
a dead calm as the skipper called it,
1 had the boat lowered and went
over TO large patch of gulf-weed
thai was floating near at hand. II was
the curious sargassum - that goes TO
make up the so-called SargassO See-and
was the abiding place of myriads of curl
GUS animals. l soon had fine collection
OF crabs and mollusks-au of which were
wonderfully marked with the exact hue
and tint of the surrounding Weed-a pro-
vision of nature called mimicry. | was
leaning over the stern Of the boat with nv
eyes within a foot of the surface when /
observed a slight movement on the part OF
what / supposed TO be piece of weed, and
thinking there was crab beneath placed
my hand beneath it, and TO my astonish-
lshInent, l lifted out an autennarias this
same fellow, or one OF his tribe, that is Sc
fore US. So remarkable W IS its protective
resemblance that l had not observed it, al
thoush-it was within two feet of me-in
fact It seemed to be covered with photo
graphs of the surrounding weed, the
DIotche5 OF yellow, olive and brown being
faithfully copied by the artist of nature.
AS you see in this specimen, the head
fms, the upper or dorsal surface, were all
ornamented with dangling barbels of flesh
That were exact III their imitation of the
sarGasSum. Thinking that there might be
another near at hand, thrust my hand
into the weed, and in a moment disengaged
from the rest of the weed a round bail
about the size of O baseball | took II
aboard. and found that it was the nest of
the fish. 1t was made up Of bits of weed
wound around with strings of q jelly-ike
secretion, evidently from the BODY of the
tsh, and all over the leaves and in the in
terror were fastened the oval white eggs of
the builder. I afterwards found many
more that ranged in size from an ordinary
ball TO football, but they were all made
III the same way, and the fish was, as q
rule, lying upon its side on the top Of the
nest or not far away The Young. when
first Matched, ind shelter in the interior of
the nest and do not leave it until thew are
well able to care for themselves.
Nest-bulldlng fishes are by no means
rare Our common stiCklebaCll is q we'll
known example. I have q pair now in my
aquarium that are making q nest-that Is
the male Is, as the female has nothing to
40 with the domestic arrangements. When
tho breeding season comes on the male Is
sumes anupual garb, IS highly colored with
pink and red tints, and is 50 ferocjous that
few fishes escape from its attacks. The
nest is placed either on the bottom Or sus-
pended rom some rope Or twig that hang
overheard, and, having selected the loca-
uon, the little hOuseketper begins to collect
Sticks and twlgs of various kinds after try
ing them to see if they will float or sink. !
31'::;;5s6 are arranged upon the bottom in
regular row, and often held in place by
stones or pebbles. The foundation com /
pleted, the sides are erected, and finally the
1oo - laid on in the same methodical
manner.
When the nest IS placed together in this /
way, the male swings around about it,
pressing its abdomen TO the sides. If Won
were near enough you would fn3 that it
was winding the nest round about with Il
thread-lke secretion that it took from
pore in the abdomen. Just as in the case
OF this autennArias, this holds the nest
IN shape. Now the 5piDdle-shaped builder
commences series Of rushes, seemingly
with the intention Of tearing it down
again. This I5 repeated again and again
until the fish fairly breaks through the
net, and forces 4 tunnel through the center.
This is the finishing touch and the female
IS now hunted up and driven into the open
ing, where she deposits her eggs. This
over, the male drives her out and takes mis-
place over them, tanning them with his
fins, and guarding 4hem against enemies of
all kinds. This watchful care IS kept up
until they are Matched and the young can
take care Of themselves"
One OF the most remarkable nests is
built by the Paradise fish of Eastern waters.
These are beautiful fishes, decorated with
tints OF many hCes, and actually resem-
bling birds OF Paradise. When the nest
building time comes around. the fish ap-
pr0aChes the surface, takes q bubble of cir.
carries il below the surface, and then re-
leases 1t inclosed in 4 covering Of saliva, so
that It rises 70 the surface and appears Ii Ike
q ap-bubble. Another is added TO It. and
soon o raft OF them IS seen rising, half On
inch in hight, and sinking several inches
beneath the surface. This ai--bubble raft
catches the rays OF the sun during the day,
cleaning with irideSceat hues aud at night
Is brilliantly luminous in fact, veritable
fairy palace.
I" Into this the eggs Of the mother fish
are placed, and so float about until they
are hatched when the young feed ct first
upon the soft portions Of their nest, moving
away only when it falls apart, leaving
them at the mercy of whatever enemy
may come alonS. These examples com
pare with the nests of some Of the grebes
that have floating nests, and the birds that
swing them from the limbs. The fishes
that erect nests UPON the bottom, however, i
are IN the majority. One OF the most
interesting IS that of the gouramay, Of thu
eastern waters of Asia. Il is considered a
fine food fish. and immense sums have
been spent in introducing it into other
waters Il attaIns length Of ak feet but
the general size is about two feet and p
half
. In the breeding season the male com
mence5 TO collect plants, mich after the
fashion OF the sticklebacll, and carries them
to some spot where il weaves them into a
round ball, leaving q rude opening in the
interior Tor the reception of the eggs The
young come out in good time and are for a
tong time protected by the male, who fol-
lows them up when they attempt to leave
the nest, drawing them with its mouth and
ejecting them again into the homestead.
Finally, however, they outgrow the pa
thence of the father, and the ues. is soon
deserted snd torn down
Many Of the fishes build nests like che
Rulls', mere hollows in the sand or peh-
bles. Such nest builder is the toad fish. |
that deposits its young in q little hollow
and watches over them carefully until they
hatch. Long afterward the young cling to
the rocks about the parent by their egg
sscs.
The salmon deposits its eggs in shall
low depression, as does the trout and vari-
GUS members Of the family. The curious
lump-fsh, that is common off our Eastern
coast erects rude nest for Its eggs and
watches ovar ther1 until fbev pra hatobod