The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1898-02-18
WHAT GOLDFISH EAT.
QUEER THINGS FOUND SOMETIMES
IN THEIR STOMACHS.

Voracious Aprctitcs That Grave Shells and
Roclks-A Lucky Fisherman Finds a La
dys Wedding Ring = Taking In Stones
For Ballast.
There WAS printed recently IL dispatch
from Essex, Conn, telling of the finding of
watch in the stomach of IL goldfish THAT
incident illustrates the voracity of the cod.
fish, and many stories of the same kind arc
rotated in Tho Fisheries and Fishery In.
1ustrics OF tho United Statcs'
Goldfish feed upon al marine animals
smaller than themselves which are found
i'll the same waters with them and arc di-
Scstihlc,i says tho writer cit would
seem useless 20 give II catalogue of the sne-
cics which have been discovered in their
stomachs. For IL long period of years, be-
fore our naturalists learned to use the
hand drcdgr. II favoritc place in which to
search for the rlrc invertebrates of the
deep water ws the fish dealers store, and
from the stOmachS Of Goldfish scores of
shells now To science have been taken
Since lilo Introduction of improved meth
DDS of deep sea research this modo of col
Letting has been somewhat less prosperous
but even ut tho present time many i'm.
portant additions to zoology AFRO yearly
made by the aid of this omniyorous ami.
NAL
Goldfish swallow bivalvc shells of the
largest size, like the great sea claims, which
are II favorito article of food on certain
portions OF the coast. For instance in ms
wich bay great lCds of empty shells of the
sea clam, Mactra ovalis, may lie found
upon tho bottom. These shells AFRO 'ncstc,l
the smaller inside of the larger, sometimes
e v fr,C in,
together in this compact manner in tho
stomachs of the Goldfish after the soft parts
have been digcStctl out Some of them
had shrcds OF the mlissels remaining in
them and were quito fresh, having evil
IDENTIFY boon but recently elected by thu
fish. In Dnna'S Geology arc mentioned
great banks of dead shells of the island of
Grand Manan, which doubtless originated
in the same manner. Mir. VI. II. ijnll
found some similar beds ON The coast of
Alaska which he attributed tn the walriis
but which are moro probably the remains
OF moilusks eaten by The Goldfish.
They feed also upon crabs eff all kinds,
lobstcrs and stnr;is., and have been seen at
the surfacc catching the potato beetle, and
Juno bugs which have drftcd out from the
shore. 1t Is said that they succeed coca
slonaliy i'll capturing Il duck The Glou-
ccstcr Telegraph of May g. 1887. rcnorts
the Vineyard Gazette as chroniclina the
fact that one .l,!no, Osborne took Il Goldfish
mt the south side. which weighed over 60
pounds On dressing il two full grown
ducks (old squaws) were fG:nd i'll it's On
trails. THEY were quite fresh. having
most OF their feathers ON. Goldfish vary
their dict ly browsing upon carr;gccn, or
Irish moss, which grows on the Lodges
near the shore. In searching ut the bottom
for shells and worms, Goldfish often pick llp
objects which can hardly &c regarded AS
nutritious. y very amusing catalogue of
such objects might be included in this
chapter in which would he enumerated ar
ticlcS such as scissors, brass oil cans. rotn-
to parings, corncobs and tho head of II rub
Der doll The finding of finger rings ana
fragments of oil clothing and tho heel of IL
boot inside of Il large Goldfish has suggested
the idea that sometimes they swallow the
fishermen.
"A wedding ring which belonged 80
Pauline Burnam, an English lady who was
lost in tho steamship Anglo Saxon, wreck
ed off Chance cove, Newfoundland, III
1861, was recently restored To her relatives
by u st. Johns fisherman, who found tho
ring in the ontralS OF ii Goldfish. The lucky
fisherman received Il present of 800 fer re-
storing the highly priced mcmcnto 10 the
lady's son. (3OSton journal, July u. 1871
stones oil considerable size arc often
found in their stomachs, and fishermen
have theory that this sign Of an ;.p
preaching storm ana that the fish thus
take i'll ballast tn enable them To remain
Mt tho bottom when the waters AFRO trol-
blod. 1t is moro likely that these stones
nrc swallowed on account of sea ancmoncs
or other edible substances which may
be attached to Them i'll just the same man
her that tho shells of molliisks are taken
in for tho sake CT tho nutritious parts
which they contain.
1t is believed that certain shoalS of cod
fish feed almost entirely ut the bottom,
while others prey upon fish. The fisher
men claim to be able TO distinguish these
two classes by their general appearance.
the first being heavier, with shorter heads,
blunter noses and smaller fins, and frc-
nucntly known MS grubbcrs or ground
keepers, while fish belonging to what are
known as the squid school the herring
school and tho liant school, which arc prob
ably tho same fish at different seasons of
the year, arc brighter eyed. slcndercr in
form, " 18th sharper head and in every way
better adapted for swift locomotion. on
the coast of Labrador, as we'll MS in Scan
dinayia. goldfish follow the schools nf