St. Landry democrat., 1893-11-25
THE QUEER FOUNDER.
How His Under Eye Works its Way to
His Back

Some of you may have heard the say
ing 'as flat as Il founder, and have not
stopped to think. What | wish to tell
you is why this fish is fiat, and what
happens because it is fiat.
Ii you have ever seen one in market
or elsewhere, you know that the upper
and under parts Of its body are of differ
ent colOrs, and its two eyes are, strangely
enough, both on the same side of the
head. If you were to see one in the
water, you would notice that it SWAIN
not upright, as other fish swim, lying
over on one side, with its eyes on top
| Now all these things-the tlatness, the
two eyes together, the twisted mouth,
the differently colored sides, the peculiar
swimmlng-comc from the fact that the
founder is not and never has been an
over brave 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
bors enjoyed 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 SO long, that
now they have actually lost the power
to come to the surface. Other fish rise
and sink by means Of an air bladder.
Those of our friends that used theirs and
rose were bounced upon and eaten. The
poor scared ones that hid ut the bottom
and saved their lives had no need of the
rising apparatus, and now, as is always
the case when an organ is not used they
have lost it.
But when the founder took to his hid
ing place at the bottom, he did not settle
himself at all comfortably, according to
our ideas OF fish comfort. Instead of an
upright position, with the two sides
equally up, lie chose, for some reason, to
lie over entirely Oh one of them, with
the other side up. This position ac-
counts for the differently colored sides
That on which he lay was protected al
ways from the sunlight, and lost its color
The upper has come to he the color OF
the bottom on which he lives, be that
color whas it may That it should be Sc
is not SO strange as it seems. A bright
founder shining on dark bottom is
easily seen by its enemies and seized
and eaten. The same would be true of a
dark fish in a bright coral home. Those
who lived to have families of their own
were those whose color was most like
the color of their home 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 knOtteu
and rough, in a way that makes them
wonderfully like their home. We find,
for the same re isOn. arctic animals white
like snow, and desert insects the color Of |
sand.
Another result of the tlatness of this |
fiat fish 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 it's existence the
baby fish is a clear, transparent little
thing. Its two eyes are where we'll
regulated eyes should be, on opposite
sides of the head, and it swims vertically
in the water, as do other fish, But in
few days the influence of a long line of
lounder ancestry is felt. JIe too, takes
to lying on one side generally, but not
always, the left The exposed skin dark
ms. In this position the view of the
Under eye is somewhat limited, and it
'quints upward toward a larger one. 1t
begins 10 move: it turns the corner and
comes to the top. There it takes stand.
The mouth twists upward, and the young
ish swims along sidewise on the bottom.
i Harper's Young People.