The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-24


basket out of water to the large cities; in
one recorded case the fish living nearly a
| week out of water.
! That fishes migrate from one pool to an
other is known in this country, and any one
who has freQuented an eel stream must
/ have seen these fishes at times leave the
water. / once spent the summer, or several,
at town in maiu where a saltwater pond
was famous for the number and size Of its
cells. AT high tide the pond was quite deep.
| and fairly alive with the Snake-like fishes,
but as 1t went out they too went wrigghng
down into the pure ocean, coming in again
at high water / happened down one even
| ing to the little river that served as an out
! let to the pond, and found it was mere
rlvulet not much over foot, wide, and as |
stepped in ! trod upon living mass of cells.
The stream was fairly filled with them, and
! almost at given signal they left the water,
and making a detour dashed over the dry
| pebbles to the ocean at least 100 feet away.
Eels often leave the water of their own ac-
! cord and crawl across pieces of land and
make for other places, leaving regular lanes
through the brush or salt grass; but these
| trips are of short duration.
A few years ago a party of American
| naturallsts were engaged in collecting speci-
mems in the Gulf of Mexico on the Texas
coast. They found a number of new and
| Interesting fishes, and among others some
| known as gobies, and not distantly related
to the curious periophthalmus.e Four or
five We're placed in a pail and left for
awhile, when, to the establishment OF the
collector, they were found in the sand some
feet from the pail. Upon replacing them
1T was discovered that they had the faculty
OF living out of the water for they lmmedi-
| ately approached the side of the vessel in
which they were imprisoned, and, by the
aid of certain spines, b gan to climb up the
| perpendicular Sides some topping over on
TO Q sand, whereupon they began scram-
BILE for the ocean. Several times those little
gobies were replaced, and they were only
kept In the pail by'being forcibly held down
| by cover. The fishes, finding themselves
| IN tight place. and perhaps in water need
ing aereation, had determined to escape,
and so proceeded over land in this untsh-
| like manner
Some years ago in Africa detachment
OF troops came to camp on a level stretch of
country, perfectly dry and devoid of a sus-
plclon of moisture. lndigging up the ground
| to arrange the tents fish was found as dry
as chip-a long eel-like creature coiled in
a ball, and seemingly incased in a mud
cocoon. The fish was supposed to be num-
mltled, and was til ken as a curiosity, and in
| the course of several weeks fell into the
hands of a naturalist, who placed it in
water. The mud slowly dissolved, ard soon
the fish gave gasp then a convulsive
struggle, like a sleeper awakening, finally
swimming off. Here was a singular ex-
ample of a fish living out of water. 1t
belonged to group known as lung fishes,
the members of which have a peculiar
| faculty of migrating overland and of being
able to exist not merely DAYS but months
out of the water. AT certain seasons the
| lakes and ponds of some localities in the
dark continent dry up; and were it not for
some provisions which enables the fishes to
bridge over this time it lis evident that many
would be destroyed. Nature, however,
| comes to the rescue, and as the waters dry
up, the fishes either crawl away to other
streams or immediately descend into the
earth where they form themselves into a
| round ball and lie in a semi-desccated con-
dition until the water comes the ensuing
season. 1t is even said that fishes have been
| known to pass two consecutive seasons in
this condition.
| Similar fishes are found in certain parts
of South America and a few years ago an
| English naturalist discovered several and
sent the balls of mud home to England in a
| trunk where they were soaked out several
months later and the fishes kept as pets for
some time. In Australia is found an inter
esting fish-the ceratodus-one of extremely
ancient lineage, as its fossil remains are
found in rocks of a comparatively early
geological time. The ceratodus has the
curious habit of crawling out upon the mud
fats at times, according to authorities, and
there wandering about. At these times it
utters a strange roaring sound supposed to
be the escape of air from its swimming
bladder. While in the water the fish
breathes as do other fishes. the blood pass
ing to the gills and there receiving its supply
of oxygen directly from the water; but
| when it crawls upon the beach the swim.
ming bladder, which is cellular, assumes
all the attributes of a true lung, and the
fish breathes in that way, the act of leaving
the water producing complete physiology
cal change in this respect.
Among the little English blennies we
find some curious habits. An English
naturalist whose house was situated near
the ocean noticed that certain fishes were
invariably left by the tide in pools where
there was no alb olute necessity for it, many
being found beneath stones and others upon
| them. Wishing to determine whether this
was accidental or not, he placed some of
these fishes in an aquarium in his house and
watched them. Every day at a certain
time he saw them climb out upon stones;
| very soon he found that this air bath was
taken at ebb-tide. This was singular
enough; but more remarkable was the fact
that the fishes by some intuition knew that
the tide was ebbing, though out Of sight of
the ocean. The experiment was tried day
after day, the fishes never failing, and
affording much entertainment to the ma
turalist and his friends.
Our common goldfish are remarkable for
their powers of living out of water A pet
three-tailed japanese fish belonging to the
writer frequently leaped from the tank,
and in one case remained upon the floor
covered with lint for over an hour before it
was discovered. l have seen these fishes
frozen tightly in blocks of ice, yet coming
out later in good condition. Experiments
with certain fishes might result in enabling
them to live greater time out Of water,
and perhaps under certain circumstances
the curious periophthalmus would become
| terrestrial fish in all the term implies.