The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-05-23
FISHES WITH LUNGS.
QUEER CREATURES THAT LIVE ON
LAND OR IN WATER

one Specimen That Lives Buried I'm
der the River Bed During she Dry
season-India's Climbing Perch and
sIam's Inland Traveller.
Every one knows that most fishes
breathe in n different manner from
that OF the greater number Of animals
and that they get the oxygen necessary
for their life from the water aud not
directly from the atmosphere. Water
dissolves a certain amount OF oxygen.
and the gIlls of fishes taks this out Of
the water as our lungs take IL from
the mixed air We breathe. The gills
are bundles OF fine blood vessels. COW
cred by a delicate membrane that per
mits oxygen TO pass through it to the
blood so long as il is moist. but usual
ly when a fish is taken out Of water
the giIls dry. and suffocation follows
The giils are very thin and may be
torn or injured by slight violence Mud.
sand, sawdust or any of the many sim
lar Impurities in water may cerate
Dr. irritate them. so nature has put FL
tiers, like combs. just in front Of them
to strain such foreign matters out Of
the water before reaching the real giils-
These filters are called gill rakers'
and act as do the gratings put over
cutters to hold back trash that might
block them up. but the cutters graf
ings get ciogged sometimes, and so do
the gill rakers When this happens.
the fish must die. and il is well known
that the sawdust in our streams has
been a chief factor in the destruction
Of our fresh water fishes.
But all fishes are not dependent on
their giIIs. Some of them, like our
common carp and goldfish, come to
tie surface now and then TO take In
drafts of air. and eels can travel over
land around dams or other obstrue-
tons. These efforts are trivial COM
pared with those of some fishes found
in other parts of the world.
These are the lung fishes. or dipnOi.
as naturalists call them, and the ae-
counts of them seem TO border on the
marvellous. In one group OF these ami
mails the ''swimbiadder" is a kind of
lung instead of a mere float as it is in
most fishes. and in some strange fishes
ia India there is a hollow space in the
skull that acts as 4 lung. the walls Of
1t having clusters Of blood vessels
about II, just as the vesicles Of our
lungs have. These fishes can bury
themselves deep in the mud when the
dry season comes on and live through
it till the rains I'LL the rivers again.
A fish In the Gambia river makes
cocoon Of mucus and mud. in which il
has been brought from Senegambia 10
London. where the cocoon was gently
washed of and the fish found to be
living. The naturalist Natterer dis
covered a similar fish in the Amazon.
but this one. the lepidosiren of sci
ence. is one of the rarest specimens
in museums.
In the United States there is a fish,
the bowiin. that can be drowned by
stretching a net below the surface Of
the water so that 1t cannot get to air.
Dr. Hector. tie government geolOgist
Of New Zealand. reported finding some
fish about So inches long among the
roots OF trees at depth Of four feet
In stiff clay. The place where they
were found was some 81 feet above
the Hokitika river. where there had
been a backwater during a time of
food The mud fishes are common in
New Zealand. and the early settlers
were surprised to dig up fish with
their potatoes. as farmers on Long Is
land are said to be in doubt whether
their spades win unearth potatoes or
clans.
The most famous Of the lung fishes
is the climbing perch Of India that has
often been found several feet up the
nangroves. These animals migrate
overland when their own streams fail
and are captured in great numbers by
the natives. to whom they are great
delicacies. Ceylon has several species
Of them. The island is dotted over
with bogs of thick. chocolate cOlored
mud, covered by a sod Of reeds and
| grasses. and this mud teens with fish.
The Cingalese clear of a space and
wal; till the fish come up to I'LL their
air bladder. when they catch them in
strong dip nets.
Sir John Bowring says that some
lung fishes in Siam go as much as
three miles from water and that they
have been seen Tapping along a dusty
road.
The lung fishes constitute a wonder
full and interesting group of animals
and show the wide range through
which nature can adapt creatures to
their surroundings. Biology is full Of
such Instances. but few are more strik
ing than this.-Washington Star.