The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-16
CATFISH HAD ANOTHER EYE.
rDulIyine Rangers OF tho Ponds That We're
"a. t the Ecsycarcrs OF the geas |

Ouuying Rangers OF tho Ponds That We're
the scavonrcrs OF the sess. |
"Prof. Brown Go0de compares the
taste of catfish meat to pate de fois
gras," Prof. Bashford Dean Of the Col
lege Of the City of New York says In q
paper in the Fish Commissioners COM
Ing report The catfish is quarrelsome,
hardy and mud-loving. fish. Fish cult
wrists affect to despise it because 1t is
ugly and q fighter. It grows some
times TO three pounds In weight, but or
dinarily 1t ranges from half pound to
pound. Nearly all fish die when con-
fined q short time in muddy, stagnant
water, but when the vivifying oxygen
Is exhausted from the water tho catfish
rises to the surface, thrusts it's 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
tho frogs, catfish hibernates, refusing
food after November and burying itself
In the ooze at the bottom Of o pond In
December. IL reappears in February
or March. or after o thunderstorm, some
naturalists aver. Then it Is thin and
ravenous.
Catfish were planted not long ago In
Lake Ronkonkoma, and fishermon COM
pinin that they are ogres; as Thoreau
wrote: 20 bloodthirsty and bullying set
Of rangers, ovor with lance ut 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 mackerel to a
piece of tin can. It's destruction of
the young Of other fish is enough 10
breed fish famine in n lake or pond
OF their own young, however, they arc
very careful. The adult fish always
swims with the young fry wandering
near, exactly as chickens accompany
the mother hen, and at tho sign
OF danger tho 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. Tho
soft parts of their fms and tails wore
torn to tatters and four eyes were de-
stroyed, ono old male catfish boinc
blind in both eyes, while the lower
third Of its tail and half of the left peo-
toral fin were missing.
Prof. Dean finds evidences that tho
catfish has rudimentary eye In the
middle of It's forehead. There Is O
medium skull opening which appears to
connect the surface Of the head with the
brain. There are evidences that q 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 a descendant of
monster plncoderms that once existed
in tho waters OF the earth In q remote
geological epoch; that from tho known
habits of tho catfish In burying itself in
the mud, with only its nose sticking out
of the ooze, 1t must have been In its
original size terrible scourger of the
sea, able te sea before, behind, and
above, while concealed, ready to dart
on its prev