The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-24
VOTES or THE AQUARIUM.
An Angler That Swallowed Shad-Anni.
Nersary Of the striped BASS.

An Angler That Swallowed Shad--Anni-
yersary OF the Striped Bass.
The swallowing capacity Of that gro
tesque fish with the cavernous mouth, the
angler, was well illustr, ted in the c, Sc Of
one lately received 1t the New York Aqua
rum. This specimen Is about four feet
in length by two feet in width and weighs
shout seventy pounds. It was taken in
Gravesend By on May 10 end came to the
Aquarium on the same day. Six days
later, or on May 10, this angler Gisgorged a
fve-pound roe shsd, ind on the following
day two founders. each weighing about
pound.
| The angler is in pc something like a
| gigt ntic VIZ terme!on seed, but ri ther thicker
| in proportion. ind with one end drown out
! to form It's t.il. Its mouth lists vice ls Its
body and extends buck 10 about its gre. test
width, 80 that its upper jaw swings back
about Is the lid Of q circular box hinged
across the middle.
The angler is a bottom feeder. II lies
| In the mud ind wees end throws back
that lid-Iike upper jaw and WI its for prey.
Cher bottom feeders coming along looking
for something to ect may swim care.essly
| between the anglers jLws Its prey thus
In position, the angler let's 60 it's upper
jaw, which closes like rapdoor.
In this way the clumsy angler catches
cod. haddock, bake, founders, sculpins,
sea ravens-ali sorts Of wandering bottom
feeders-but not commonly the shad,
| which Is not bottom feeder. The angler
here particularly referred to WIS cap
tured in shad net. and the sbad that
II had caught 1t had doubtless mana ged to
get from among the captive shad In the net,
! after its own capture.
The Aquarium received last week eight
geographical turtles, nine soft-shell turtles
and eight blandings terrapins from lake
Erie and a lot Of painted turtles and p tied
turtles from Cold Spring Har6o' -. l..
pool Ct the smaller turtles. In this pool
there are now hundred or more smaller
| turtles Of various kinds, and numerous
small alligators.
Other arrivals at the Aquarium last week
| from inland waters, these also from Lake
Erie, were twelve mud puppies.
| Added to the Aquariums salt water
stock, beside fishes Of various familiar
local or mgr ating species, were seventeen
small Holsters. all active and lively. 9, de-
| cidedly attractive addition to tie stock IN
| the lobster and crab tank.
| May II marked the end OF their ninth
| year here Of the AQuarium's striped bass,
| notably fne and handsome lot Of fish,
| now twenty seven In number. Originally
weight from about FIVE ounces TO about
four pounds: ofthe twenty-eight that In
the course Of nine years haveidied, two
thirds were lost in the first two years; none
| has died in the last year.
The largest OF the splendid fishes IL now
about thirty-one inches in length. about
eleven inches in depth OF body, and about
| six inches In thickness and Of about thirty
pounds weight.
The force Of habit on the strength Of q
| good appetite is shown in the case OF Nellie,
the harbor seal, one Of the Aquarium's
most admired exhibits. Formerly. when the
! Aquarium closed Of 4 o Geek In I efter-
neon. Nellie was fed Immediately after the
closing hour the whistle blown to
9sess the fear "a iasn To Nellie IL ss
indicating her feeding hour.
until 4:sO Nellie Is fed at. the same
! hour as before, in. public: and the pool 10
always surrounded BY, as many people as
graceful creature eating. Nellie eats then
| all trat they will give her. and half an
| hour later, when the closing whistle blows.
| jumpe out OF the water in her old accus-
| toned way, looking for more.
About $500 young shr d, hstched out
in tho Aqunrlun,s hf tchery from 100000
shnd egps recently received from Havre de
| Grnce, Md :, hive been pr ced In the Hud-
! son River ri Fishki'l L. neinR. About SOC, 900
| young pike perch l. tely h. trhed out in the
Aauari,im have been deposited in Nc ssa-
| pequa L. Ike.
The Auus rum st week received I ,0s7 400
shad eggs from the Potom.c River. That
| 81 900 eggs sdded to a million mey look
! like pretty close figuring. but 1t wouldn't
strike fish culturists fs being fnything out
| of the usufl Fish eggs are met sured up
es liquids would be, and the number Of
| eggs OF any certs in sort thr t will go into a
quert or pint. or any specified measure,
Is definitely known.
This lot Of Potomac she eggs by mer sure
cont ined l,Os7 coo egPsi end it is probs 10
that the lot would vsry but very little from
that, either way. by, return count. These
doubted that close to a million fishes will
be secured fror, them. Later they will
be placed in the Hudson.
The Aquarium bes now on the gallery
!, tier, fresh water slice, three exhibition
Tanks stocked with young fish hf tched
out in it's own hi tchery. These includes
rpinbOw trout. brown trout end lake trout,
the largest Of the RI Inflow, and the browns
being about m inch End a hnl in length,
and the largest Of the lake trout an inch nd
a quarter to an inch and half, The little
rainbows and browns ere now about three
months old, and the lake trout about two
months.
The refrlgerating plrnt Of the Aquarium
for supplying cooled water to the tanks
of such fishes 30 require it at this sess son,
the trout, the salmon and the white fish,
WAS started up this year on Mr. y 20, when
the Croton water rs 1t came into the IA nks
was at a temperr ture OF 90 degrees, W, ter
ct about IS to 90 degrees Is what Is required.
II l.