Among harmless and lovely kinds, perhaps not many could vie with the small radiant creatures of Coral-reefs, described by many a traveller in terms which tell of a lack of sufficient variety in adjectives. But words in these cases convey a dim impression of the reality. Fish-beauty must be seen, and seen at its best, to be appreciated.
Among curiosities of Fish-existence, too many to name, a few may be cited in passing.
Flying-fishes, with their blue bodies and wing-like fins of silver, are well known to voyagers.
They rise from the water with a vigorous upward spring, which will bear them to a height of fifteen feet or more above the surface; and there they skim lightly along, with apparently thorough enjoyment. Sometimes thousands are seen at once, all leaping out of their native element, and taking to the air for a variety.
Often they do this to escape from a pursuing foe below; but the plan is not always successful, since they have other enemies above. Many a flying-fish in its aerial career is snapped up by a hungry gull.
One uncouth specimen is the “Frog-fish,” known also as the “Fishing-frog” or “Goose-fish,”—a flat thick rounded creature, with a cocked-up tail, an enormous mouth nearly as wide as its whole body, and knowing eyes. It bears a certain resemblance to a frog.
Many instances are related of fishes “imitating” or “copying”—to use very inadequate terms—different land animals. The Bat-fish, for example, bears a curious likeness to a Bat. The Snipe-fish might be mistaken for first cousin to a Snipe.
There is also the Pelican-fish, an inhabitant of deep-water. It has a mouth of portentous dimensions, with a huge pelican-like pouch hanging loosely below. Little is known of its habits; but it is supposed to swim about near the ocean-bed, with its enormous jaws extended in a stereotyped yawn, taking food in a vast and wholesale fashion.
Another oddity, known as the Spook, though not interesting in its ways, has a most “bizarre” look. Its body is long and winding, almost like that of an eel; its fins are large; its eyes are big; and, judging from its picture, its head seems to be a cross between that of a fish and that of a quadruped.
Among innumerable fish gormandisers one particular specimen carries off the palm, and might win the first prize in a world-wide competition for excellence in voracity.