Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-03-28
CATFISH HAD ANOTHER EYE.
Bullying Hangers OF the Ponds That wero
the A-.enEers of tho Seaa.

bullying hangers OF the Ponds That Were
the s--.o"Eers OF the Seas.
"Prof. lsr'wn Goode compares the
taste of catr.~h meat to pate de fois
gras," Prof. I'nsl.ford Dean of the Col
lege of the City of New York says in
paper in the Fish Commissioners COM
ing report. The catfish is quarrelsome,
hardy and mud-loving fish. Fish cult
urists affect to despise it because it is
ugly and n fighter. 1t grows some
times TO three pounds in weight, but or
dinarily it ranges from half q pound to
a pound. Nearly all fish die when con-
fined short time in muddy, stagnant
water, but when the vivifying oxygen
is exhausted from the water the catfish
rises to the surface, thrusts its snout
out of the water and sucks air into it's
stomach. Through its porous skin also
1t takes in the oxygen of the air. Like
the frogs, catfish hibernates, refusing
food after November and burying itself
in the ooze at the bottom of n pond in
December. 1t reappears in February
or March, or after thunderstorm, some
naturalists aver. Then it is thin and
ravenous.
Catfish were planted not long ago in
Lake Ronl1onl1oma, and fishermen com
plain that they are ogres; as Thoreau
wrote: "a bloodthirsty and bullying set
of rangers, ever with lance at rest"
They pause in their rowing, sink head
foremost in the mud, and wait for their
prey, with their black muzzles just pro-
truding from the ooze while their little
black eyes glance restlessly in every
direction. The catfish will bolt any
thing from bit of salt macl1crcl to Il
piece of n tin can. It's destruction of
the young of other fish is enough to
breed fish famine in n lake or pond.
Of their own young, however, they are
very careful. The adult fish always
swims with the young fry wandering
near, exactly rs chickens accompany
the mother hen, and at the Sign
of danger the little bullheads hustle
to the mother fish and get behind
her for protection, while, all alert,
she waves defiance with her whis-
kers. When aroused catfish give hid
den and fearful battle with their barbs.
They fight most in the breeding season,
males battling with males. Of twelve
catfish observed by Prof. Dean, nine
showed marks of terrific strife. The
soft parts of their fins and tails were
torn to tatters and four eyes were de-
stroyed, one old male catfish being
blind in both eyes, while the lower
third of its tail and half of the left pee
toral fin were missing.
Prof. Dean finds evidences that the
catfish has a rudimcntary eye in the
middle of its forehead. There is q
medium skull opening which appears to
connect the surface of the head with the
brain. There are evidences that lens
once existed, and it is believed from
microscopic examination of the brain
that the opening affords sensation of
light to the fish. Prof. Dean argues
that the catfish is descendant of
monster placoderms that once existed
in the waters of the earth in n remote
geological epoch; that from the known
habits of the catfish in burying itself in
the mud, with only its nose sticking out
of the ooze, it must have been in it's
original size a terrible scourgcr of the
sea, able te sea before, behind, and
above, while concealed, ready to dart
on its prey.