Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-16

wolves biological data covering the
habits Of the different varieties Of
fish, together with oysters, clans,
crabs. fresh-water mussels, etc. The
bureau maintains a central biological
laboratory in Washington and stations
at Woods Hole, Mass; Fairport, Iowa:
Beaufort, n. c.; Key West, Fla, and
Seattle. Wash. These stations all
play tag" with the fish. About 81 900
fish have been tagged and turned
loose, in order to discover what they
do, Of their own free will and accord,
when given their liberty. For it is
known that some fish never wander
far. and when such are slaughtered
in any particular locality it takes
many years to replenish the loss. This
is true particularly Of cod, pollock and
haddock. Also by means Of the tags
on young fish the watchers may note
the growth of the individuals and so
discover the rate Of their production
OF pounds of supplies. Other studies
are made of the eggs. larvae and the
spawning grounds.
Studies OF the oceanography and
plankton Of definite regions are made.
Plankton is the great mass Of floating
animal and plant life-extremely min
lature-"chiefiy diatoms and blue.
s.
protoZoans entromostracans, with their
eggs and larvae; also larger jelly
fishes and salpas."
There may be some readers IN
informed as to what all those things
are good for. Goldfish feed upon plank
ton. and that is how we get our cod.
liver oil, SO rich in vitamins and so
valuable in building up our strength
and flesh. A short time ago the Blu.
reau or Fisheries received an INQUIRY
from large concern engaged in max.
ing cod-liver oil and other medicinal
preparations as to how they could
gather plankton in great enough quan.
titles so that they could "cut across
lots" and extract synthetic "cod-liver
oil" directly out of the plankton, with.
out the Intervention Of the digestive
organs Of the Gods. Then the sacred
cod OF the Boston Statehouse turned
over on it's hook, but that shows the
value Of the Investigators work. OF
| course. they naturally are alert, for
they live on fish, most brainy nour-
lshment. They don't talk merely of
tarpon when they mean a seven-foot
| lsospondylous fish, hence Gen. Lord
never meant them at ALL and the
sl1epticism Of the beholder was far
from reaching them.
1t has been estimated that farmers
| might reap as profitable a crop from
an acre of water as they do from
land if they would grow fish or terra
pin. instead of wheat. There Is a
man in Florida who produces millions
of fish annually, and his pets are
proving to be a great joy to enemies
of mosquitoes. The fish are called
"gambesia.'' They are less than 2
| inches long. but they feed voraciously
on mosquitoes and the larvae. Mos
| quitoes cannot live in waters stocked
with gambeSia. but will flee to the
shelter of weeds or grass as the ter
rible little whales" make their first
raid. Even youngsters of the gam
besia tribe, before they are half an
| inch long, devour great bites of
! "wigglers." They "eat 'em alive"
! The gambesia seem to be novelties,
| Invented" only within the last dec
ade. and their chief cultivator now
ships them to all parts Of civilization
land New Jersey"
The New York Geological Garden
! has won considerable publicity in the
| last few years by its Beebe expeditions
to study the deep.sea fish. Piscatorial
scientists speak with great respect of
| DIR. Beebe's intimate knowledge of
! birds, and since there is known to
exist certain species of fish which not
only wander along the beaches, but
actually climb trees. 1t is assumed that
the knowledge of ornithology is the
basis of the New York deep-sea ex-
plorations. Perhaps these piscatorial
tree-climbers sing like canaries or
boot like owls. for there Is a fish which
| banks like dog.
In return for such exchange Of
science, all the ichthyologists Of the
Bureau of Fisheries are greatly inter.
. ested In Comdr. Richard Evelyn Byrds
| flight over the waves Of the Atlantic,
this week or next. When fish perch
on trees, why not Byrds ride the
waves? "Ain't Nature grand"
(Copyright. 1927. hS Paul v. Collins.l