Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-09-27
THE QUEER FLOUNDER.


How His Under Eye Works it, Way to
His Back.
Some of you may have heard the say
ing las fat as q founder" and have not
stopped to think. What I wish to tell
you 10 why this fish 10 fat, and what
happens because il il 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
emit colors, and its two eyes are, strangely
enough. both on the same side of the
head. If you were to sec one in the
water, you would notice that IL SWAN
not upright, as other fish swim, 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 oolored sides, the peculiar
swimming-comef from the fact that the
founder 10 not and never has been an
over-brave fish. We cannot blame tho
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 80 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 pounced upon and eaten. The
poor scared ones that hid at 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.
Bat 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, he chose, for some reason, to
lie over entirely on one of them, with
the other side up. This position &C.
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 be the color Of
the bottom ON which he lives, be that
color what it may. That il should be so
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 q
dark fish in 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 80, 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 knotted
and rough, in a way that makes them
wonderfully 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 flatness 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 q young founder.
In the very beginning of its existence the
baby fish is 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 a
few days the influence of long line of
founder ancestry is felt. He, too, takes
to lying on one side generally, but not
always, the left. The exposed skin dark
ems. In this position the view of the
under eye is somewhat limited, and it
squints upward toward larger one. It
begins to move; it turns the corner and
comes to the top. There it takes stand.
The mouth twists upward, and the young
fish swims along sidewise on the bottom.
Il Harper's Young People.