New-York tribune., 1902-08-31
NEWIFISHA ATTHE AQUARIUM
WHAT CAME IN THE LATEST SHIPMENT
FROM BERMUDA-THE QUEER
"FOUR-EYED' SPECIMENS.

The opening of a shipment Of fish at the Aqua
rum is very much like opening grabbag. There
may be prizes in it. On Monday the last of
the shipments of fish from Bermuda for the sea-
son was received by the steamer Pretoria. In the
shipment the officials at the Aquarium found 22
fish. ard representatives of twenty-eight different
species. Among them were thirteen trunkfish,
which look more like triangular handbags than
trunks. There five cow1sh which. far as
the novice see, have of the characteristics
of that soft-eyed animal for which they are named
Angel fish to the number of twenty were found in
the lot. Then there four groupers, eight
geon fish, three fine specimens of the unpleasant
looking green spotted moray, four pgish, seven
squirrel fish, five young spot snappers one speci-
men of the rare black grunt-fron1 whom never
sound is heard-two slippery Dicks, eight striped
sergeant majors. round robin and-a~ fsIu- fish
not fully Identified
Now It will be found. if the number OF fish men
ton is added up, that the total is nearly 2 In
the shipment 116 specimens of a fish which
will interest for time to the children
who visit the Aquarium. In the tanks Is now
displayed part of these little fish, and 1t is la
beed ''Four-eyeG Fish" The fish really do not
have fou- eyes. but they look as If they had. Two
of what appear to be eyes not eyes all, but
great round black spots for all the world like fish
eyes. These the tail so that when the
fish swims he looks as if he going backward.
for his real eyes like little beads and hardly
distinguishabe. There Is a reason for everything
found in nature, and so there must be for
these two false eyes, like false windows in a
houea- Mr.. Spencer, the superintendent of the
Aquarium, says that he does not know why this
little fish has these big round make-believe eyes.
One may hazard the guess that the little fellows
with them could deceive a big fish who wished to
swallow them for dinner. The big fish would see
these big eyes and assume that the
going to swim in that direction. When he took a
dive for the little fellow he would suddenly discover
that he had miscalcuated. for his game would be
swimming in the opposite direction.
The -four eyes only two three inches long
They are almost oval in shape, and thin that
they translucent. Their color is that of sea
water when one looks at his hand through 1t. A
rounded fringe Of fin the top and the bottom
of the fish and the tail, which resembles the
of small Maltese cross set deeply into the fringe,
gives the end of the fish the shape of the big
end of egg The shape of this end of the fish
coupled with the big. black false eyes, is enough
head, when has found 1t, is shaped like a pigs
head, In size is like the head of the wee little
pig that cried all the way home" The mouth Is
hardly larger than the head of a good sized pin
It bite holes through things which hard
When disturbed in any way, for instance when
a dipper is put into the top of the tank. the fins
the back of the -four eyes rise up like the
If they could demolish enemy two three times
their size.
There were also four comics in the shipment. A
strange and unusual thing happened when they
dinarily the backs of these fish dark in color.
As the comics were placed in the tank with their
captive brethren in instant both those in the
tank and those just put in turned cream color.
They are turning back again to their ordinary
color The strange thing was not that they should
become lighter for 1T known that they could do
that bat that all should do 1t simultaneously. This
is not often seem.