The record-union., 1891-03-18
FISHES THAT BUILD NESTS
Fishes that Take Care of Their Fami-
ieS-Other Funny Things.

Fishes that Take Care of Their Fami-
HeS-Other Funny Things.
''It is generally supposed that fishes
take no care whatever of their young,
leaving them entirely to the attention of
nature" said Professor Theodore Gill to
writer of the Washington Star. ''Bu t
the fact is very much otherwise with
many species. The most remarkable
point, however, regarding certain kind S
OF finny creatures in their parental rela :
tions is that the males do the care-talling,
and not the females. Very interesting
discoveries have been recently made with
regard to the habits of nest building
fishes, the catfish among others.
'If you will go out any time during the
month of August in this latitude, you
will see in the streams and ponds big cat
fish of the common sort. each one accom-
panied by swarm OF small fry. In each
case the old one is male and he is en-
gagged in taking care of his offspring. IF
an intruder comes near he will dash at
him and drive him away. It has been
known for long while that catfshes had
this way of guarding their young, but
only lately that it has been ascertained
that it was the papa fish which did the
care-taking. Some time back there was
a pair of catfishes in one of the aquaria
at the building of the Fish Commission.
At spawning time eggs were laid, and
one of the parents kept watch over them
not permitting the other to come near
The young We're duly Matched and
thrived, being cared for in this way until
they are big enough to look out for them
selves. Then the fish which stood guard
was taken out and dissected, the result
bein ef that it was found to be the male.
IN their native ponds and brooksI you
will find large broods of young catfish as
big as three-fourths of an inch in length
remaining together in flocks, each flock
accompanied by the male. Sometimes
the latter will swim slowly along in the
center of the flock, and at other times
alongside. In laying their eggs the
parent catfishes select spot where the
water is quiet, if possible protected by
aquatic plants, and there they make
nest, perhaps eight inches by six, inclos-
ing the spawn. This nest has a soft outer
envelope, and over it the male hovers,
forcing fresh water through the mass by
rapid vibrations of its fins until after
about week they are Matched.
Sometimes the male catfish takes care
of its young in a still more peculiar man
ner. There is a kind found in the sea the
eggs laid by which are as big as small
mouths OF the males, which do this to
protect them. After the eggs are laid the
papa catfish takes them into his mouth
and keeps them there until they are
hatched, when they go out and take care
of themselves.
''But this method is not confined to the
catfiSheS. There are found in Africa and
South America species which resemble
the sunfish of our own streams. These
'cichlidS.' as they are called, are also
plentiful in Texas and in Palestine.
They are often found with their cheeks
fairly bulging with young. In the Sea of
Galilee the cichlids are so numerous
that the miraculous catch of the time
when st. Peter fished there might be re-
peated' any day, it being the manner of
these fishes to move about on top of the
water in solid masses, covering many
square yards and making a noise like
that of rain pouring.
1.-The common SunfiSh also takes care of
its eggs as do other species of its family
which are peculiar to North America,
such as the black bass, rock bass and
croppie. In the spring a pair of these
fishes will come near the shore and care
fully clear away circular spot foot or
two in diameter, removing all the weeds
and stones. In this clearing the female
lays her eggs and the male Immediately
takes charge, lowering over the nest and
driving away all intruders. This contin-
ues until the baby fishes are hatche d and
able to take care of themselves.
1.-THE pipe fishes, which are found in
every sea, save where it is very cold, also
take care of their young, and in very
curious manner. The new-laid eggs are
taken charge of by the male, which has
a sort of fold on each side of his body
Beneath these flaps he keeps the eggs un-
til the young are Matched and sufficiently
grown to take care of themselves In the
group which includes the sea horse the
male has pouch under his tail, wherein
it retains the eggs until the little fish have
been Matched for day or two, and at the
end of which time they make their way
out and do their own foraging.
I'm the case of all these species of fishes
which take care of their young curious
adaptation of natural law to circum-
stances is found. Those which take the
greatest pains in sheltering their offspring
have the fewest eggs, perhaps less than
100 at lay. On the other hand, other
sorts of fishes, which pay not the slight
est attention to their young, produce hum
dreds of thousands and even millions at
a single lay. The extreme in the other
direction is found in the gigantic ray
known as the devil fish of South ern
waters, which grows to be twenty feet in
width. 1t bears but single young one
at birth, the mother retaining it inside
her body until it has grown to be four
feet broad. The youthful devil fish, COM
ing into the world so big, is III little dan
ger from any enemy, and one at a birth is
enough to keep up the stock. There are
very many kinds of fishes which are
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