St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-08-03
HABITS or THE KiLLlE.
A Small Fish That Serves as Food for Ita
Larger Relatives.


have various methods of evading pur-
suit. On the first sign of danger all
small fishes seek shallow water, and If
they are away from the shore they
seek the surface. At the surface they are
comparatively safe, for there are many
fishes that do not like to come quite to
the top, and their pursuit ends just be-
low it. If the smaller fish can work in
along the edge of the shore in shallow
water it is safest there, for the larger
fish grounds in following. The founder
is one of a mum Der of rather good
sized fishes that are of very light
draught, and which can get pretty
well inshore when pursued. The
usual method of the founder, however,
is to bury itself in the sand, and some
times when very closely pursued it
springs out of its bed, making the wa
ter Opaque with the sediment it stirs
up, and swims swiftly away, perhaps
in zigzag course, to bury itself again
twenty or thirty feet off. II is a IA
miliar fact that in their eagerness to
escape pursuit from larger fishes the
rear fishes in a school of small fishes
will often crowd those ahead of them
high and dry out Of water. Often on
ocean beaches smaller fishes, such as
herring, buttcrfish and menhaden, are
driven up in such numbers that they
lie on the sand in windrows.
There are many fishes that bury
themselves in the mud or sand or that
hide under rocks and crevices II is
common enough for small fish When
he sees hig one coming to creep un-
der ulva or sea lettuce or any other
marine plant; and there are many
fishes that change color SO that they
can scarcely be distinguished from their
surroundings. Some fish pretend to
be dead; they lie on the bottom notion
less, and SO escape observation or be-
ing eaten by fish that prefer live food.
The striped bass, for instance, which
much prefers live food, might nose
over killie that appeared TO be dead,
and leave it, but if in the exuberance
of it's spirits the killie should too sud-
denly come to life the bass would go
back and eat It,
Live lzillies are part of the food
supplied at the aquarium at Castle
Garden. They are fed, for instance,
with other things, to the blackfish.
The blackfish are in large pool, at
one end of which there are a number
of steps. The porcelain-tiled bottom
and sides of the pool are kept clean
and white; the stone steps are covered
and fringed with a moss-like plant
growth of dark green and russet. It
looks cool and dark and inviting, and
the blackfsh often loaf around the
steps, and sometimes they appear to
be lying upon them. The steps are
often sought, too, BY the killies,s not
as b loahng place, however, but as 3
-s.14 4eAeaf vats.3sa. .feoTu- t.ho--h -hla
the pool they follow the wall around,
instinctively, as they would follow the
shore In the presence of larger fish in
their native element The water is as
deep there as il is anywhere in the
pool, but the killie stays on the sur
face, and the blackish hesitates to
dash at it so close to the wall, for like
almost all fish, it is very sensitive
about the nose, and avoids shock there
IL It can. So the killie, as long as 1t
hugs the wall and stays at the top OF
the water, is pretty safe. But after
awhile it makes an excursion across
the waters Of the pool. Even then it
is pretty safe as long as it remains at
the top; but let 1t go below the surface
and it is pretty sure to be captured; it
may elude It's pursuer at first, but
usually not for long. The blackfish IL
almost certain to get IL II it stays be-
low.
Itmay be that the killie escapes to
the steps. The water just laps over the
edge of the top step. The killie car
lump nm inch or two out OF water, and
il jumps upon the top step and flaps
back q little and lies there with its
gills just awash; that Is enough tc
keep it alive. The biackfish can't see
the killies upon the top step, but The
killies can see the blackfsh, and often
they stay up there out OF harms way
long time, lying usually perfectly still
but Topping about q little occasionally
to get into more comfortable positions
If the water in the pool should be low
cred sufficiently to leave the top steI
dry, then the killies would wrigglt
into the water again. II. there sheule
be killies lying on the top step Wher
the water was drawn down low tt
clean the pool, the killies would follow
the water down from step to step unit
finally they would be compelled t
take TO the water, and then tn
chances are that the blackfsh woult
soon get them.
Live killies are fed TO the bullfrogs
In one end of the bullfrogs' tank at tn
aquarium there is, rising above tn
praveIly bottom, a bunch of rocks upol
which frogs love to sit. Near the othe
end of the bank a small stone slab ha
been laid upon two other stones il
such a manner as to form bridge
The frogs like to sit ON this bridge
too, and the killies like to get under
to escape the frogs. Often frogs ar
seen on top of the bridge, and killie
directly beneath them, under th
bridge in the water. The frogs sit me
tionless except for the incessant, regr
lar bellowslike motion of the bi
throat that indicates their breathing
the killies below are motionless excer
for the gentle movement OF their littl
fins. Y. Sun.
To such an extent has the hors
been superseded by electric and cabl