The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-10-23
OF THE FISHES.
SMALL FRY WHO ACTAs PILOTS
AND pEcoYs.
Sharks. Crabs, and Other Fish Ar 40.
companisd ~ Retainsrs who
Forage for Food In Return
for Proteokfou.

TO- SI ---
Sharks. Crabs, snd Other Fish Are Ac.
sompanisd ~ Rstainsrs who
Forage Tor Food In Return
for Profession.
Il Is q popular belief among many
s~eafarers that the shark depends to q
greater or less extent upon the pilot
fish for information, and is guided by
this little attendant to the various It'd
bits that come in its way. How much
truth is in this 1t would he difficult to
determine. but IT is barely possible
that the curiosity of the shark may be
attracted to food by the action of the
pilot fishes.
Once when sitting in my boat fishing,
says q writer in the Cincinnati Week
" Times, I noticed the scythe-like fin
Of q large shark moving about in the
vicinity. It had evidently scented a
bunch Of fish which I had hung over
the stern and came up the tide or cur
rent in rapidly decreasing circles. I
threw a small line out astern, baited
with q large sardine. This was taken
and the line broken with q steady.
dignifed strain. But the shark still
came on, it's temper unrufled by the
sharp barb in Its jaw, and wheeled
about the. boat with its head slightly
tipped. showing the ugly, like
protuberances on either side. 1t passed
80 near that l could have touched the
big dOrsal fin, and I had excellent op-
p%ortunity to notice the actions of the
attendants. There were half a dozen
in all; two or three big pilotsfshes
and the rest the curious sucking
fishes or remoras. As the shark
swept around, the pilots-little
striped fellows three or four inches
long-kept at its head, making short
excursions from 1t at every object that
appeared like food. They were evil
IDENTIFY foraging on their own account,
and that the shark saw them there can
be but little doubt But in all proba-
bility, it had scented the fish a long
time before, and paid no attention to
the ~so-called pilot fishes. They would
dart at a bit Of sea-weed and nibble at
it. perhaps catching a minute crusta-
Q that had been floating with it.
then darling back to their huge con-
sort that was wheeling around and
around, wondering where the fish were,
which l had as a precautionary meas
ure lifted into the boat.
II appearances are to be considered,
then certainly the sea anemones must
be included among the pilots, as there
is one, II not several kinds that in
some inoomprehenslble way takes up
Its position on the tip-top of a crabs
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 it
sees to the crab that is thus forced to
bear it we may readily doubt Why
the anemone takes this position, and
why the crab permits it opens up a
wide field for speculation.
The anemone is the natural food for
a 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 a large
number Of cod in very deep water,
where 1t was very cold. and that al
most every one caught had a large sea
anemone in its mouth. Looking al it
in this light the crab might object to
q tenant that was liable to be goboled
up a tany moment, as a large fish would
not in all probability, object to me
mono with a good plump crab at the
other end. On the other hand it is
possible that the anemone may attract
small fry, and sc act as a de-
coy, the crab lying buried In the
sand and darting up to seize the
intruder. Various suggestions have
been made to account for the
association but the real reason
Is not known, and I must leave it to nv
young readers to decide in this case
which is the pilot, the crab or the
anemone. 1t might be said that the
| position of the anemone was entirely
accidental were it not found on SO
many individually, 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 to bear an ane-
none, not on its back, but on one of
its big claws. SO that when feeding
and tearing It's prey the anemone was
brought into the direct nelghborhood
of the food and obtained it's share;
In fact when the crab dined 1t was
invariably present. A naturalist who
made the discovery thought that
it was merely an accidental occur
renee, but nearly all the crabs which
he found had their anemone compan-
Ions. One day he took several crabs
and carefully removed the anemones,
but leaving them all in the tank to-
gether. Visiting them a short time
after, he found that in every case the
crab had hunted around and replaced
the anemone. Next an ahemone was
out in a number of pieces after being
separated from the crab and placed
with it in a tank, w%hereupon the
crustacean collected the remnants of
Its companion and endeavored to fasten
them upon its claw and was holding
them fast when found. So it is evil
dent in this case that while the ane-
none may be the pilot or lookout the
crab is the one that most desires the
association.
Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus was twice
married. His first wife was Felina