Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-05-09
QUEER BERMUDA FISH.
Brilliant Hues and Peculiar Shades
Among Their characteristics.

= The aquarium. which is one q
the most interesting places in in Ber
muda, occupies the old imperia
magazine on Agar's Island. OPPOSITE
the Soncy hills, writes Lucy Ello
Keller in the indianapolis News
! The underground chambers an,
Naulted passages afford eXcellen
/ opportunity for the arrangement O
wall tanks, where one may ohserv,
the fish comfortably on level witt
/ ones eyes. The fish are ali from
/ Bermudian waters. and though IN,
numbers are far less than those il
/ the New York aquarium the Collcc
/ ton is the most brilIiatly colored OF
any 1t has been my fortune to see
/ Indeed. many of the colors are OF
! the kinds called Impossible Moth
I ing but the rainbow itself can rival
the angel fish, with its flashing
blues and greens and yellows. as il
swims lazily. its slow motions in
stinct with grace. 1t is broad. often
weighs up to four pounds. and sur
passes II other local fsh in the
flavor of its flesh as we'll as in its
lovely hues.
The tour eyed fish, small and de-
lighting in sheltered coves has
its true eyes hidden in a long black
stripe, slanting .cross its body,
while two black spots in its tail
are sufficiently realistic TO de-
ceive any casual enemy into mis-
taking the fish's tail for its head
The hog fish is very common here,
its popular name being derived
from its swinelike profile and denti-
ton The long streamer like extern
sion of its fins gives it singularly
graceful appearance. Specimens
often weigh twenty pounds. The
Spanish hog fish has a coat of much
splendor about half blue and half
yellow.
Hamlets and groupers are the
same thing, the young fish called by
the first name, and those longer
than twenty inches by the second.
Hamlet suggests dual person.
ality, the fish changing color rap
idly, representing when dark, the
gloomy Prince of Denmark; and
when pale and gloomy, the Princes
fathers ghost. We went to the
Devils Cave one day, a natural cave
open above, where the fishermen Of
ten keep their catches, and over
which an ancient Neptune looking
native, with his trident presides.
At feeding time the groupers. many
of them four feet long, rushed up
savagely for their food, making a
tremendous splashing; and the ar
ray of their great open mouths was
almost terrifying. These fish pos
sess the protective device of chang
ing their color rapidly.
Sergeant majors, with five black
cross, bands upon their yell,w sides, !
like the cheyrons of that non-com-
missioned officer. the doctor fish. |
with lancelike processes on the side !
of its caudal peduncle, and with pro-
fessional instinct keeping its nose
close to the pipe down which fresh
water was brought to the tank; the
squirrel fishes. brighter than the
gold fishes of our fresh water aqua
ria; and the bonito and amber FISH.
so highly priced for table use; the
seacat, less than six inches long, OLD |
gold in color. elevating at will de- /
cided coronet, and tumbling gently |
from ledge to ledge as it worked its
way down the tank; and the soap
hsh, which makes lather, when at
.acked to conceal itself from its
enemy-how different all the Gre
ures are from the FISH of our north
arn waters.
Among the other forms of fish
we're black cells and morays: some
striped morays weaving themselves
n and ont of drain pipe and about
Zach other until it seemed as If they
'ould never get united. The green
norays were solid moss color, six
inches thick and possibly seven feet
ong, / was told that these crea-
lures coil themselves and strike like
cobra, up from a depth Of thirty
'eet OF water but ! cannot vouch for
Ire truth of the statement.
One tank was devoted to small
'ctopi, sticking like inert masses
against the sides OF the tank fasten-
ID to its glass wall by hundreds of
)uttonhke suckers. As the keeper
1oked them with a stick they chang
ed color, unwinding their vicious
arms, recalling to the spectator the
in Victor Hugos novel.
'Toilers of the Sea" A dead octo-
rus, uncurled on neigh boring
beach, measured fourteen feet
spread, No less fantastic, though
ar less tiendish, were the crayfish-
'uch as we eat for Sunday suppers,
delicious white fesh-with COR
gaous colored shells, which once a
year split down the back and are
Immediately crawled ont of by their
srstwhile inhabitants. Bermuda
children have a debonair fashion of
fishing for crayfish with a bit of .
ed flannel tied to a stout string.
only the fisher must he patient and