Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-04-09
CATFISH HAD ANOTHER sYe.


were VIE Nspycnrcrs OF the seas.
Professor brown G0ode cumparcs the
tnaio ot catfish meat 10 pate de fuie ara. ."
Professor lhshforl Dean. VI the Collcso Of
the CITY of New York, says Ia paper in
he iinh commissioner repnr. 1hr cat.
iish j. quafrclAonc. hapiy ana mud low.
ing fsh. Tish culiufista affect 10 despisa
because IL Is ugly aud Fighter u
grows sometimes To three pounds In weight,
hut ordinarily Il ranges from half a bound
20 pound. Nearly al nsi die when con.
fined a snort time IN muddy. .tagnaut
water. Tut when tho viyifyinu oxvg.u b.
exhausted from the water the cntiish rises
to the surface, thruata IT, snout ont ~ tho
wnier and sucks air into L. stomach
Through IT, porous skin nlso % takes in
the oxygen of the air. Like the frogs, tho
catfish hibernatos, refusing food after No
vcmhcr, ard burylng itself Ia the o,sc az
the bottom of the pond iu December. II
fenppcnp IN February or Marh. ur after
thunder storm, some nuiufalists aver
Then " 4 THU aud fnvrubus.
Catfish were planted not long ago iu
lake Ronkunkurna, and fishermen com
plain that they ap ogr.-as 1horenu
wote, "a bioodthirsty and Bullying set 81
rangers, ever With lance at rcttn They
pause In their rowing sink headforvno-t
IN the mud and wait Tor their prey. with
their black mnslles just prntruding from
the ooze, while thoir little black eye.
| glance tcstlesily In every direction. The
catfish will bolt anything from Bit IT
salt mnckcrrl 10 a piece Of Tin eau. IT, de-
siruciion u the young N other fish a
enough TO bre,si fish famine In a lake "
] pond. Of their own young. however. they
arr yerj careful.
The adult ilsh always swiins With thu
yonng fry wandering ncir, exactly NJ
chickens accompany the mother hen. aud
~ the -ign of danger tho little bullhrads
hustle to the mother fish and get behind
her Tor protection, while, all alert she
waves defiance with her whlskcr. When
/ aroused catfish give hidden aud fearful
battle with thair harris. They fight m..t
In the breeding season. male. batili'g
With male-. OF twelve catfish observed by
Professor Dean ninc showed marks ~ ter.
rifle strife. The soft parts NJ their nn- and
tails We're torn IA tattsrs aud ioug eyes
were destroyed, one old male catfish being
bliud IN both eyes, while the lower third ~
~ tall and halle OF thelUft pcctoral Tia wcrc
missing
Professor Dean finds evidences that tho
catfish has q rudimcntary eye Ia The middle
~ It. forehead There Il u mcdlhn skull
opcning which appears 10 connect fhc snr
face 81 the head With the hraln. Them Aru
evidences that lens once existed, and u 4
believed FROM microscopic examination 0l
the brain that the upuning afford. u Hcntn'
tlon II light 10 the ish Professor Dean
arRucs that the catfish i n descendant VI
monster placodcrma that onue existed IN
the watens of the earth Ia o remote geo
logical epoch; that from the known habits
Ut the catfish In burying Itself In the mud,
with only ~ nnse sticking out of tic oosr
Il must have been Ia IL original siAe a ter
nhlc suourgur OF the SEA, able 10 ser he
fore, bohiud aud above. while concealed,
really 10 dsrt on it, prey New York sun