The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-10
FISH WHICH WALK.
They Wink, skip About and Leisure
Iy Air Themselves.


From the London Standard.
When one hears or reads of fish that
walk, one thinks instlncively of the lung
fish or mud fish--those curious creatures,
survivals Of an ancient fauna that seem TO
have made some advance toward becom-
ing amphbans. and stopped short on the
road. 1t is only natural that one should
recall them in this connection. When the
Australian lung fish was first described It
was said to leave the streams and go out
among the reeds and rushes ON the fats
which are left uncovered at low tide,
and settlers averred that on still nights
they often heard 1t moving on the river
banks. This, however has been shown not
to be the case, though IL Is probable that
all the three lung fish--from Africa Austria
liza and South America, respectively-can
move easily through he masses of aquatic
vegetation in their native rivers and
swamps. The name walking fish" Is gem
orally given to some small species allied
TO the gobies of our own coast. and faind
on the shores and estuaries of West Africa
and the countries bordering the Indo-Pa-
cihc. Banks, in his Journal" speaks OF
the very singular phenomenon presented
by these fish, which, he says, were about
the size Of an English minnow. and had
party often found them in very dry places
/ where it was at first thought they had
been left by the tide. Further observation
showed that the fish had chosen their sit
uatlon voluntarily.
Sir Joseph fixed his attention upon one
fish, and says that II Immediately fled
"leapIng as nmbly as a frog by means of
its breast fms; nor did Il seem to prefer
water to land, for IL seen In the water il
. IA
land, and when the water was filed with
small stones standing above the surface
would leap from stone to stone rather than
go into the water. In this manner / OBJ
served several pass over puddles of water
and proceed on the other side, leapiug as
before" Other naturalists have added a
good deal to our knowledge of these
strange fish. Hickson found them In the
Celebes and described them, as did also
Woodford, who met with them IN man
grove swamps IN the Pacific, whore, he
says, they are exceedingly common hop
ping and climbing among the aerial roots
to which they chung by means of their
strong pectoral fins, and jumping off into
| the water when any one approaches. He
! also found them In wells a long distance
| from other water, IN situations to reach
which they would have had to make a
conside cradle journey overland. MoSeley
saw them during the voyage Of the Chal-
lenger, and in his "Notes of a Naturalist"
he tells how he chased one in Trincomalee
harbor, which skipped along the water by
a series Of jumps until IL reached rock,
where It sat on a ledge In the sun and
waited til he came up, when II skipped
along 10 another rock.
Though spirit specimens have tong been
known, and DR.. Ginther lent one to Nose
/ lev. who drew It for an illustration to his
| afkr - re
ago that living examples were brought TO
! Europe. The credit Of introducing these
strange fish into geological collections IS
due TO DR.. II. Forbes, director of the Liv-
erpool Museum, where they have done
remarkably well ia shallow saltwater
| tanks, kept at temperature Of about 80
degrees Fahrenheit. When they came they
we're exceedingly timid; but this shyness
soon wore off and In a short time they
learned TO recognize the attendant as he
| came TO feed them. DR. Forbes speaks of
| their having two modes of motion on land
| "a hop or spring and a walk. In the for
mer case the pectoral fins are used stimuli
taneously as a base whence to take off,
| and I'm the latter alternately, when a Gu
rious triple track Is left Ia the soft mud.
| At the meeting of the British Association
| in 1886 dickson pointed out that these fish,
in the Ceiebes always kept the tail under
water, and this lea Prof. A. q. Haddon,
during the Torres Straits expedition, 70
make some experiments, which induced
| him 10 believe that the tail does assist IN
respiration, and the microscope showed
that the circulation OF the blood was OK
| ceptionaHy vigorous in that organ But
with these conclusions Dr. Forbes Is una
bic 10 agree The specimens which have
! lived IN the aquarium of the Liverpool
museum have been kept under close and
continuous observation, with the result
that the director believes that no aid can
he lent 10 respiration bx the immersed