The Press., 1900-02-01
THE HABITS OF FISH.
SALMON ARE THE FIGHTING ROMEO9
OF THE FlNNY TRIBES.

OF THE FINNY TRIBES.
Goldfish Can Guido the Goat and Os-
trich Combined In Digestive Pow
ers, and the B1uehsh Is the Most
Bloodthirsty Thing In Nature.
1t is not too much to say that in some
ways the love of salmon passeth that
of women. To reach the objects of
their affection they perform feats and
undergo hardships greater than any
man could do or bear, and to maintain
it they fight with a courage and fury
which might make many a soldier en-
vious.
The salmon trials begin when they
first leave the sea ON their long up riv
er journey to meet their sweethearts.
Presently perhaps they meet a high
waterfall. Then the salmon backs
away as far as possible, makes loco
mottve1ike rush and leaps for the top.
He actually whizzes through the air,
his tail moving like lightning, his
scales shining like silver enamel. Per-
haps he fails to reach the top by foot,
but he catches the water, hangs sus-
pended for a moment and then with q
miraculous strength forces his way up
and reaches the quiet water beyond.
Perhaps the next waterfall is five
feet higher, and the salmon leaps in
vain. Then, finding the feat impossi-
BILE, he actually climbs the sides,
jumping up from ledge to ledge and
resting in little pools until the river
above is reached. Then he goes on
pushing through rapids and founder
ing over shadows until the spawning
ground Is reached. In many Of the
larger rivers of this continent the sal
mon is no beauty when he reaches his
journeys end. His scales perhaps are
worn off, his fins torn, and his body is
a mass Of bruises. But nevertheless
he wooes his ladylove boldly, caresses
her tenderly, fights his rivals fiercely
and wins his bride like a soldier.
But all fish are not so romantic. The
Goldfish, for instance, is unsentimental
and actually ridiculous. He is great,
gray, ugly fish, and his name itself is
absurd. If there were such thing as
submarine humor, he would figure in
1t as the goat does in our own COMICS
The Goldfish has, in fact, an appetite
which makes the goats look pale, and
when fishermen cut the fish open they
assert that they often find such things
as scissors, suspender buckles, horse
shoes, potato parings, oil cans, door
knobs, marlin spikes, corncobs and
india rubber shoes.
Another startling story told by fish
ermen is that in heavy weather cod
fish eat stones to balast them, but it
Is more likely that these rocks are TAX
en- in while attached to sea anemones,
Of which the Goldfish are very fond. 1t
may be inferred that Goldfish do not
object to nibble the fingers or hands
of human beings, because the wedding
ring Of drowned woman was once
found in Gods stomach, and the find
er got big reward for its return.
Oysters and clans in the shell are
very popular with the Goldfish, and
there are vast heaps of dead shells in
the ocean, "nested'' together like
strawberry boxes, which are believed
to have once been in the stomachs of
Goldfish. The appetites Of these fish
are Unsuitable. They will fill their
stomachs, ill their gullets and fill their
mouths with food and still try to get
more.
If people knew more about the fish
they eat. it is possible that a slice of
'baked blue" might fill many a man
with shuddering horror, for the blue.
fish is perhaps the most terrible and
bloodthirsty thing in all nature. The
tiger has a sweet and cheerful disposi
lion compared to the bluefish, the
shark seems phlegmatic and amiable
creature, and the WOLF by comparison,
is positively mild. The bluefsh make
menhaden their especial prey. When
school Of these fish perceive bluefish
near, they swim away with such terri
fic haste that the ocean foams under
them, but the bluefish cannot be dis
tanced. They rush among the help
less menhaden, biting, tearing, thrash
ing and even throwing them into the
air.
They do not stop to swallow their
prey, but kill purely for the love Of
slaughter. The sea is reddened with
blood and dotted with dead fish, but
bluefish kill on until exhaustion stops
them or until the menhaden get into
such shallow water that the bluefsh
do not care to follow. Sometimes these
helpless fish are so blind with terror
that they swim ashore and are piled
up in windrows foot deep.
The bluefish do not eat one-tenth Of
the fish they k9ll, although when sur
feited they are believed by some peo.
pie to disgorge their food in order to
take in another meal 1t is estimated
that during fair season 100000
bluefsh are caught between New Jer-
sey and Monomoy and that about &c.,
100000 remain uncaught. Thirty or
40 fish are sometimes found in the
stomach of one bluefish, but placing a
bluefish's kill at only ten per day it
| will be seen that during their four
months yearly stay on the New Eng
land coast they destroy about 1,2OO,-
600, ,OOO, 100000 fish, and that is excIud-
ing the vast numbers Of minute fish
| eaten by little bluefish, which are not
included in the estimate. Carried into
| ayoirdupois it is calculated that 2,5OO-
100000 pounds of fish are eaten daily
by bluefish. Nevertheless they are
handsome and graceful fish. Very lit
tie is known of their other habits,
| but they are so nervous while In cap
tivity that they develop corns on their