The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1901-09-19
THE FOOD OF FISHES.
MANY ARE VECETARlANS AND EN-.
JOY A DISH OF GREENS.

W. SiSsi ~ S'se-''
Denizens of the Sea Not Only Prey Upon
Ono Another. But They Eat Worms
Je'lyfish, Seaweed and Shellfish-Haye
Delicate Stomacha
A writer has recently distinguished
animals as those which derive their
food from the soil and those which
live on other animals. The fact is, how
ever, that all animal life is supported
directly or indirectly from the soil. The
food of all animals is vegetation or 9TH
er animals which live on vegetation.
Thus all animal life rests on a vegeta-
bic basis.
Many persons have the idea that the
food of nearly all the fishes is animal
life found in the sea. This is probably
true of many varieties, but not a few
fishes are vegetarians and there are
many fishes that vary their meat diet
with more Or less vegetable food. A
little while ago an English naturalist
who was dissecting Dream found in
its stomach in addition to a crab con-
siderable quantity of two kinds Of sea-
weed, though the Dream is reputed to
live on animal life. Some of the text
books say that the gray mullet, a popu-
lar fish in British waters, feeds only on
the animal matter it obtains by strain
ing sand or mud in its mouth. This is
not scientific conclusion. No biologist
Of European university could convince
practical Cornwall fisherman that the
gray mullet docs not eat seaweed. He
knows that this is 50 for he often finds
the 6shs stomach full of seaweed.
There is a great deal of vegetable
matter floating around in the sea. Ey-
erybody knows of the eddy in the At
lantic ocean where the currents whirl
the hundreds of miles around a great
center, the Sargasso Sea, in which sea-
weeds drift and remain in the quiet
waters within the swirl until they be-
come waterlogged and sink of their ex-
ira weight. 1t has been found that the
enormous quantities of seaweeds, algs
and other vegetation that cover the sur
face of the Sargasso Sea with vivid
green are mostly torn by the waves
from the shores of Yucatan and other
Gulf of Mexico coasts and drift for
many hundreds of miles before they find
lodgment in the Sargasso. Vast guam
titles of vegetation also drift out to sea
that never reach the currents whirling
around this grass-covered part of the
ocean. Thus vegetation from the land
has wide distribution over the sea and
it has been proved that it is relished
by many varieties of fish.
The scientific work of DR.. Nansen in
Arctic waters proves that large pcpu-
lation of fish is introduced into the cold
seas from the west, and that the food
supplies to support this vast marine
population come mainly from the east.
He says that the Siberian current flow
ing to the northwest is of great import
ance in conveying a constant supply Of
nourishment to the pelagic animals Of
the north polar basin. This nourish-
ment consists OF microscopic algae, some
of the smallest specimens of vegetable
life. They are chiefly diatoms which
are found to abound in the superficial
polar water of the Siberian Sea, though
gradually diminishing in quantity west.
ward, apparently owing to their being
largely fed upon by various plagic ami
mails. Indeed, without such a constant
conveyance of nourishing matter there
could be no such rich fish and Other
animal life in the polar seas. We have
read accounts by Arctic explorers of the
dark bands and discolorations exhibited
by the ice in northern waters. They arr
mainly due to these minute and lowly
plants on which the northern fish feed
to a considerable extent.
Of course, the sea is full of a grea
variety of food. Fish not only prey upor
one another, eat seaweed, algae, ane
other forms of vegetation, but they art
also able to vary their diet with worms
jellyfsh, seaweed, and many kinds O.
shell6sh. The fish must have deli
cate stomach, and most exacting palat,
that cannot find in the myriad forms O.
animal and vegetable life pervading th'
sea materials for tempting meal.--Nez'
York Sun.