The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-18
SOME QUEER FISH STORIES.
SPECIMENS THAT HOP, SKIP AND
WALK.
They Can Live oct of the Water Half
an Hoar-POweFfnI Breast Fins.

! walk. one thinks inEflLctIvesE q the lung
fen or nudfsn-those curious creatures.
sury1vals o. an anciene fauna that seem
20 have male some advance toward be-
coming amphIbiaEs. and stopped short on
the road. IL IS only natural that one
should recall them in this connection.
When the Australian lungfsh was first
ldescribed II was sad 90 leave the streams
and 90 out among the reeds and rnshes
on The fats which are left uncovered at
low tide. ard settlers ayerred that on stiH
nights they often heard Il moving on the
river banks. This. however. has been
SHOWN not 90 be the case. though il Is
probable that al the three luHgdsh-from
Africa, Australia ard South America re-
| speetivelJ-can move easily through the
| masses Of aquatic vegetation In their ma
tive rivers ard swamps.
The name walking fish" Is generally
given 20 some small species allied to fa4
gobies Of our own coasts and found On
the shorEs and estuaries Of West Africa
ana the countries bordering the Indo-Pa-
| clhc. 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
! Two very strong breast fms. He and his
I =
where fl was at FIRST thought they had
been left By the tide. Further observation
showed that the fish had chosen their Sit
uatiOn voluntarily
Sir Joseph nxed his attention upon one
| nsh, ard says that Il Immediately he1.
| 'ieapinS as nimbly as a frog. BY means
! Of lis breast fms nor ia il eeem to pre-
| fer water to land: for II seen in the water
| i often leaped out and proceeded on dry
| land. ana when The water was filed with
| small stones standing above the surface
| would leap from stone 90 stone rather
| than 20 into the waFer. In this manner
| / observed several pass fOver p9ddies OF
| water. and proceed on the other side, leap
| ing az before"
Other naturallzts have added good
| deal to our knowledge OF these strange
/ fish. Hickson found them in the Celebes
| aud described Them, as did also Wood
! ford. who met with them I'm mangrOye
| swamps in the Pacific, where, he says
| they are exceedingly common. hopping and
| climbing among the aerial roots 10 which
| they cling BY means OF their strong pee
| toral fms, and jumping OF into the water
when any ore approaches. He also found
| them in wells long distance from other
4 water IN situations to reach which they
would have had 10 make a coHsidera ole
| journey overland. 21oseley saw them. dur
| ing the cOyage Of the Challenger and 10
| his Notes Or a Naturalist" he tells how
1 he chased one, in Trincomalee harbor
which skipped along the wafer by Sc
ries Of jumps until IL reached a rock
where i sat On a ledge in the sun, and
| waited tn ne came up, when II skipped
| along 10 another rock.
Though spirit specimens have long been
known. and Dr. GuDtner lent one 20 Nose
| ley, who drew Il for an Illustration 70 his
| NOtes,' IL was not till sonsS three years
ago that living examples were brought 10
| Europe. The credit Of introducing these
| strange fish into geological collections is
| due 10 DR. II. Forbes. director of the Liy-
erpooi museum whore they have done re-
markedly well ia shallow saltwater
| tanks. kept at a temperature Of about s.
! degrees Fahrenheit. When they came
| they were exceedingly timid; but this shy
ness soon wore Off. and 10 short time
| ne came to feed them. DIR. Forbes speaks
| Of their having two modes Of motion on
| land-a hop or spring and a walk In the
former case the pectoral fins are used sim
ultaneOusly as a base whence TO take on,
and IN the latter alternately, when GU
rious triple tracR is left in the soft mud.
Al The meeting Of the British Ass0cia-
| tiou in 1886 dickson pointed out that these
| fish In the Celebes, always kept the tail
| under water, and this led Prof. a. G. Had
don, during the Torres Straits expedition,
| TO make some experiments, which Induced
| him to believe that the tail does assist
| in respiration, and the microscope showed
| that the circulation Of the blood was ex
/ ceptionaiy vigorous In that organ. But
| with these conclusions DR.. FORBES Is una
| bic to agree. The specimens which have
| lived in the aquarium OF the l1Verpool
| Museum have been kept under close and
continuous observation, with the result
| that the director believes that no aid can
| be lent to respiration by the immersed
| portion Of the tail The gill-chambers of
| these fish are capaeious. and. In his opsu-
| ion, IL is probable that sufficient amount
| OF water can be retained In them to keep
| up respira ton during the time the fish are
/ out of the water. he has timed indlVidu-
ais both IA their natural condition and
/ In The AQUARIUM, and has found that they
| would SIT for more than half an hour
| without a bath. They would then walk
| slowly into the water, and go below the
surface for a second, come UP and rest
| for a brief space and walk slowly OUT
again onto the margin.
DR.. Forbes has been very generous with
the specimens not required for the Liver
| pool Museum. In December last he pre-
| sented several to the geological Gardens
| but they did not thrive, and in short
| time all died He has quite recently sent
another consignment. for which a home
has been found u large tank in the new
| tortoise house. These specimens are do
| ing very well, and it will be a great ad-
vantage for naturalists 40 have an oppor-
| tunity Of watching these curious fish,
| which seem to be quite fearless, and in
nowise incomnoded by the visitors who
! stream through the house.
| Their resemblance 10 tadpoles is exceed
| ingly striking, ana their strange appear
| ance is added to by their prominent eyes,
1 which are bettr adapted for vision in air
| than IN water. and from their position
| must command an extensive field in all
directions. They can be protruded and re-
| tracted. and. as the fish lies propped uD
by US peetoral uns, u often appears 10
| wink al the spectator, with one eye or
/ both. Dr. Forbes has, however. explained
| that what seems 20 be winkug is the in
| version Of the eye into a depression i'm
! mediately beneath, for The purpose Of lu-
| bricating the organ when 1t becomes dry
The climbing pcrch OF India seems to
| have ieen wen known 10 the ancien S. fer
| TheophIastus records he existence ia that
| country Of certain little fishes which leave
| the rivers for a time and again return 10
| Them. This agrees pretty closely with the
| habits Of this species The Malays cali ii
| BY name which signifies the "tree-c.imb-
| er." but while there IS no reason 10 Doubt
/ the truth or Dallorfs story that in 1871
! he took one from moist cavity ia the
/ stem Of a palm tree growing near a lake
! there has Hitherto been no confirmation of
| Il by ony European.
! In this FISH the hinder border Of the gill
| cover is armed with spines the neutral
| fins are sDinous, so as 10 AFFORD some sup
pert. and IL uses Us pectoral fins TO oar
! itself along through The grass and reeds
! There Is No doubt that it can travel for a
| considerable distance en- land or thai Il
! con live for some lime Out cf the wafer.
\ but that IS no reason for accepting the
lmodiaeyal Arab story that il climbed palm
| trees 10 drink the mix Of the nuts
NHie fish and tts a Hes hqya e,y~l,