The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-17
PHILOSOPHY OF THE FOUNDER.
How the Under Eye Works Its Way to
the Side He Selects TO Be His Back.
From Harper.s Young PeopIl

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Some of you may have heard the saying
cas- fat as a founder" and have not
stopped to think WhatIwish to tell you
is why this fish is fat, and what happens
because it is fat
If you have ever seen one in the market
or elsewhere, you know that the upper
and under parts of its body are of differ
cnt cOlorS, and that its two eyes are,
strangely enough, both on the same side
of the head If you We're to see one in the
water, you would notice that it swan not
upright, as other fish swim but lying
over on one side, with its eyes on top
Now all these things the fatnesS, the
two eyes together the twisted mouth,
the differently colored sides, the peculiar
swimmiag-come from the fact that the
founder is not and never has been an
over-bravc fish. We cannot blame the
poor creatures much, because they have
no way to defend themselves. as sword
fish and some others have. Their neigh
boris enjoy eating them they know that
they are weak, and so they took, ages
ago, TO hiding AT the bottom of the water
This has been done 50 long, that now they
have actually lost the power to come to
the surface. Other fish rise and sink bv
means of an air bladder. Those of our
friends that used theirs and rose were
pounced upon and eaten. The poor scared
ones that hid at the bottom and saved
their lives had no need of the rising APP
paratus, and now, as is always the
case when an organ IS not used, they
have lost it.
But when the fiOun Ter took to his hid
ing place at the bottom, he did not settle
himself at all comfortably, according to
our idsas Of fish comfort. Instead of an
upright position, with the two sides
equally up, he chose, for some rcasO, to
lie aver entirely on one of them, with the
other side up. This position acnounUs for
the differently eoloren sides. That on
which he lay was protected always from
the sunlight and lost its color. The up
yer has come to be the color of the bot
tom on which he lives, be that color what
it may, That it should be so is not so
strange as it seems A baight
founder shining on dark bottom is
easily seen by its enemies, and
seized and eaten. The same would be
true of dark fish in a bright coral home.
Those who lived TO have families of their
own We're those whose color was most
like the color Of their homes. Only the
safest color was transmitted, and so the
world over, members OF this family are
the color of sand, or mud. or gravel, or
shell, or coral, according to the place of
their abode Some are even knOttCd and
rough, in way chat makes them wonder
fully like their home. We find, for the
same reason, arctic animals white like
snow, and desert insects the color of
sand
Another result of the fairness of this
fiat-fsh family to which the founder be
longs is that its eyes are both on the top
of its head. We can best see how they
have gotten together, and how other
changes have taken place by noticing the
growth of a young founder In the very
beginning of its existence the baby fish
is a clear transparent little thing. Its
two eyes are where wcll-regplated eyes
should be, on opposite sides Of the hoa /,
and il swiUs vertically in the water, as
90 oJher fish. But in few days the in
ttuenCe of a long line of founder ancestry
is felt. He, too, takes to lying on one
generally, but not always, the left.
The exposed skin darkens In this Tosi-
ton the view of the under eye is some
what limited, ana it squnts upward to-
ward larger one, 1t begins to move; it
turns the corner and comes to the top.
There ii takes d S and. The mouth twis g
upward, and the young fish swims along
sldeWlse OF the lotion.