The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-11
VOYAGES OF TIE GOLDFISH.
Queer Things From the Bottom of the Sea
Found Sometimes in Their Stomachs.

FROM Essex, Conn, telling of
the finding Of watch in the stomach OF
q Goldfish. That incident illustrates the
voraoity of the Goldfish, and many stories
of the same kind are related in 1.-The
Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the
United States
Goldfish feed upon all marine animals
smaller than themselves which are found
IN the same waters with them and are
digestible,' says the writer. ut would
seem useless to give catalogue of the
species which have been discovered in
their stomaohs. For long period of
years, before our naturalists learned
to use the hand Gredge, favorite place
in which to search for the rare inverte-
brates of the deep water was the fish
dealers store, and from the stomachs OF
Goldfish scores of shells new to science
have been taken. Since the introduction
of improved methods of deep sea research
this mode of collecting has been some
what less prosperous, but even at the
present time many important additions
TO zoology are yearly made by the aid of
this omnivorous animal.
Goldfish swallow bivalve shells of the
largest size, like the great sea CLAIMS,
which are favorite article of food on
pertain portions of the coast; for instance,
IN Ipswich Bay great beds of empty
Ihells OF. the SEA clam, Maetra ovalis, may
be found upon the bottom. These shells
are tnested,' the smaller inside of the
arger, sometimes six or seven in set,
having been packed together inthis COM
pact manner in the stomachs of the cod
dsh after the soft parts have been digest
ed out Some of them had shreds of the
mussels remaining in them and were
quite fresh, having evidently been but re-
sently elected by the fish. In Dana
Geology are mentioned great banks of
dead shells off the island of Grand Manan
which doubtless originated in the same
manner. Mr. W. Il. Dali found some
similar beds on the coast of Alaska which
he attributed to the walrus, but which
are more probably the remains Of mollusk
eaten by the Goldfish.
They feed also upon crabs of all kinds,
Holsters and starfish, and have been seen
at the surface catching the potato beetles
and June bugs which have drifted out
from the shore 1t is said that they sue
coed occasionally in capturing duck.
The Gloucester Telegraph Of May 6, 1857,
reports the Vineyard Gazette as ohroni.
cling the fact that one James Osborne
took n Goldfish at the South Side, which
weighed over sixty pounds. On dressing
1.-two full-grown ducks Told squaws)
were found in its entarils. They were
quite fresh. having II es of their feathers
on. Goldfish vary Their diet by browsing
upon earrageen, or Irish moss, which
grows on the lodges near the shore. In
searching at the bottom for shells and
worms, Goldfish often pick up objects
which can hardly be regarded as nutri-
tious. very amusing catalogue of
such objects might be included in this
chapter, in which would be enumerated
articles such as scissors, brass oil cans,
potato parings, corn cohs. and the head
If a rubber doll. The finding of finger
rings and fragments of oil clothing and
tina heel of a boot inside of large cod
tieh has suggested the idea that some
shines they swallow the fishermen
"a wedding ring which belonged to
Pauline Burnam, an English lady who
was lost In the steamship Anglo Saxon,
wrecked off Chance Cove, Newfound-
land, in 1851, was recently restored to her
relatives by a st. Johns fisherman, who
found the ring in the entrails of a cod
fish. The lucky fisherman received a
present OF so pounds for restoring the
highly priced memento to the lady's son.
ll1oStOn JOURNAL July ., 1871.
'Stones Of considerable size are often
found IN their stomachs, and fishermen
have theory that this is a sign of an
approaching storm and that the fish thus
take in ballast to enable them to remain
at the bottom when the waters are troub-
led. 1t is more likely that these stones
are swallowed on account of sea anemo-
mes or other edible substances which NAV
be attached to them, in just the same
manner that the shells of mollusis are
taken in for the sake of the nutritious
parts which they contain. -
1t Is believed that certain shoals of
goldfish feed almost entirely at the bot
tom, While Others prey upon fish. The
fishermen claim to be able to distinguish
these two classes by their general appear.
anee, the hrst being heavier, with shorter
heads, blunter noses and shorter fins and
frequently known as grubbers or ground
keepers, while fish belonging to what are
known as the squid school, the herring
school and the liant school, which are
probably the same fish at different seasons
OF the year, are brighter eyed, slenderer
in form, with sharper head and in every
way better adapted for swift locomotion. |
On the coast of Labrador, as we'll as in
scandinavia, Goldfish follow the schools |
OF spawning capelin in to the shore and
prey greedily upon them, and elsewhere |
at other seasons they feed with no less
voracity upon other species of fish which |
may be schooling, and of which they de-
stroy vast, numbers, such as mackerel |
menhaden, herring, alewife, salmon,
soulpin, founders, eunners and haddock. |
En- November, 1877, Mr.. Vinal N.
Edwards found In the stomachs of cod
taken at No Mans Land many species of
hsh' some OF which, like Eumesogrammus
subbifurcatus, are found only at great
depths, and others, like the two spined
stickleback, Gasterosteus biaouleatus.
and the little file fish, Monacanthus
settler, must have been taken at the sur
face or near the shore.
shallow water about the Virgin Rocks.
| have been told that they follow the liant
to the surface. pursuing them with great
heroeness. Along cur northern coasts
they replace, to some extent, the vora-
cious bluef1sh and bonito of the South
Capt. Atwood remarks that the amount
Of food which they consume is enormou s,
when the size of the fish Is taken into ac-
count. He has seen them on the coast of
Laborador, where the capehn were in
great mbers, with their stomachs filled
to the greatest possible extent, and cape