The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-10-17
FRIENDS OF THE FISHES.
SMALL FRY WHO ACT As PILOTS
AND DEcovs.
shars>. Crabs. AMI Osher Fisa Are 40.
comp sated by Rcsstnrrs who
Forage Tor Food Rstura
sor fro ~rtioa.

II Is a popular belief among many
scaiarcrs That the SHARK depends TO u
greater or less extent upon the pilot
fish for information. and Is guided by
this little attendant 10 the various It'd
bits that come In It's way. How much
truth Is in this it would be difiicult TO
determine. but it Is barely possible
that '.he|curiosity OF the shark may DO
attr <ctA 10 food by the action OF the
pilst ashes.
t.nce when sitting In my boat fishing.
says a writer In the Cincinnati Week
ly Times noticed the scythe-liko fin
cf large shark moving about in the
vicinity. IL had evidently scented
bunch OF fish which | had hung over
The stern and came up the tide or cur
rent in rapidly decreasing circles.
threw small line out astern. baited
with n large sardine. This was taken
and the line broken with steady.
dignified strain. But tho shark still
came on. It's temper unruiled by tho
sharp barb In its jaw. and wheeled
about the boat with its head slightly
tipped showing the ugly. hammor-like
protuborances on either side. Itpassed
50 near that could have touched the
big dorsal fin. and had excellent OPP
portunity to notice the actions OF the
attendants. There were half dozen
In all; two or three big pilot-fshes
and the rest the curious sucking
fishes or remoras. AS tho shark
swept around. the pilots little
striped follows three or four inches
long kept ut It's head. making short
excursions from it at every object that
appeared like food They wero evil
IDENTIFY foraging on their own account.
and that the shark saw them there can
be but little doubt But in all proba-
bility. 1t had scented the fish long
time before and paid no attention 10
the so-callcd pilot fishes. They would
dart ut a bit OF sea-wced and nibble at
il. perhaps catching minute crusta-
cean that had been floating with it,
then darling back 10 their huge con-
sort that was wheeling around and
around, wondering whore the fish were.
which / had as precautionary meas
ure lifted into the boat
IL appearances are TO be considered.
then certainly the sea anemones must
be included among the pilots as there
is one. IL not several kinds that IN
some incomprehensiblo way takes up
its position on the tip-top OF crab )
back and there lives moving about
with its host and we can imagine
keeping its myriad eyes open for the
main chance; but that it tells what IL
sees 10 the crab that is thus forced 10
bear IL we may readily doubt Why
tho anemone takes this position and
why the crab permits IL opens up
wide field for speculation.
The ancmone is the natural food for
n large number OF fishes. Capt Bart
lett the commander OF the ship Blake
in her dredging trip in the caribbean
sea- told me that he dredged large
number OF cod in very deep wnter.
where it was very cold. and that al
most every one caught had a large sea
anemone in its mouth. Looking ut 10
in this light the crab might object to
n tenant that was liable 10 be goboled
up mt any moment, rs large fish would
not in all probability. object to ane-
none with good plump crab ut the
other end. On the other hand IL Is
possible that the anemone may attract
small fry. and so act a. de-
coy. the crab lying buried in the
sand and darling up to seize the
intruder. Various suggestions have
been made 10 account for the
association but the real reason
Is not known, and must leave 1t To my
young readers TO decide In this case
which is the pilot the crab or the
anemono. IL might DO said that the
position OF the anemono was entirely
accidental were IL not found on so
many individuals. and some expert
ments have been made with another
crab and anemone which show that
the attachment at least In this instance
Is on the side OF the crab. The one In
question was found 10 bear an ane-
none not on its back but on one OF
its big claws so that when feeding
and tearing its prey the anemone was
brought into the direct noighborhood
OF the food and obtained its share;
in fact when the crab dined IL was
invariably present. A naturalist who
made the discovery thought that
Il was merely an accidental occur
renee. but nearly all the crabs which
he found had their anomono compan-
ions. One day he took several crabs
and carefully removed the anemones
but leaving them all in the tank to-
gother Visiting them n short time
after, he found that In every case the
crab had hunted around and replaced
the anemone. Next an anemone was
cut in n number OF pieces after being
separated from the crab and placed
with IL In tank. whereupon the
crustacean collected the remnants OF
It's companion and endoavorod 10 fasten
them upon its claw and was holding
them fast when found. So IL Is evil
dent in this case that while the ane-
mono may be the pilot or lookout the
crab Is the one that most desires the
association.