The Frog-fish—Bird-catching Fish—The Nautilus—The Air-bladder in Fishes—Respiration in Fishes—Shower of Fishes.
| “——————The scaly brood In countless myriads cleave the crystal flood.” “Who can old Ocean’s pathless bed explore, And count her tribes that people ev’ry shore.” |
The Frog-Fish.—There is a very singular animal of Surinam, bearing this name, of which a figure is given by Mr. Edwards, in his History of Birds, vol. I. but of which no specimen is to be found either in the British Museum, or in any private collection, except that of Dr. Fothergill. It was brought from Surinam, in South America.
Frogs, both in Asia and Africa, according to Merian, change gradually from fishes to frogs, as those in Europe; but after many years, revert again into fishes, though the manner of their change has never been investigated. In Surinam these fishes are called Jakjes: they are cartilaginous, of a substance like our mustela, and exquisite food; they are formed with regular vertebræ, and small bones all over the body, divided into equal parts; are first darkish, and then gray; and their scales make a beautiful appearance. Whether this animal is, in its perfect state, a species of frog with a tail, or a kind of water-lizard, Mr. Edwards does not pretend to determine; but he observes, that when its size is considered, if it should be deemed a tadpole, at first produced from spawn, and in its progress towards a frog, such an animal, when full-grown; if it bears the same proportion to its tadpole state that those in Europe do to theirs, it must be of enormous size; for our full-grown frogs exceed the tadpoles at least fifty times.
Another curiosity is, The Bird-catching Fish.—This fish is called by the natives of Canada, Chaousaron; its body is nearly the shape of a jack or pike, but is covered with scales that are proof against the stab of a dagger; its colour is a silver gray, and there grows under its mouth a fin that is flat, jagged at the edges, and pierced at the end, which gives reason to conjecture that it breathes by that part. This fish is about five feet in length, and as thick as a man’s thigh; but some of them, it is said, are eight or ten feet long. In order to catch birds, it hides itself among the reeds in such a manner, that no part of it can be seen but the fin just mentioned; this it erects upright out of the water, and birds that want to rest themselves, take this fin for a reed, or a dry piece of wood; but no sooner have they alighted on it, than the fish opens his mouth, and makes such a quick motion to seize its prey, that it seldom escapes.
Another curious object is, The Nautilus.
Learn of the little Nautilus to sail,
Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
Pope.
The shell of this animal consists of one spiral valve, divided into several apartments. There are seventeen species, chiefly distinguished by peculiarities in their shells.
The most remarkable division of the Nautilus is into the thin and thick-shelled kinds. The first is called Nautilus Papyraceus; and its shell is indeed no thicker than a piece of paper, when out of the water. This species is not at all fastened to its shell; but there is an opinion, as old as the days of Pliny, that this creature creeps out of its shell, and goes on shore to feed. When this species is to sail, it expands two of its arms on high, and between these supports a membrane, which it throws out on this occasion: this serves for its sail, and the two other arms it hangs out of its shell, to serve occasionally either as oars or as a steerage; but this last office is generally served by the tail. When the sea is calm, numbers of these creatures may frequently be seen diverting themselves in this manner, in the Mediterranean: but as soon as a storm rises, or any thing gives them disturbance, they draw in their legs, and take in as much water as makes them specifically heavier than that in which they float; and then they sink to the bottom. When they rise again, they void this water by a number of holes, of which their legs are full.
The other nautilus, whose shell is thick, never quits its habitation. This shell is divided into forty or more partitions, which grow smaller and smaller as they approach the extremity or centre of the shell: between each of these cells there is a communication by means of a hole in the centre of the partitions. Through this hole there runs a pipe, of the whole length of the shell. It is supposed by many, that by means of this pipe the fish occasionally passes from one cell to another; but this seems by no means probable, as the fish must undoubtedly be crushed to death by attempting to pass through it. It is much more likely that the fish always occupies the largest chamber in its shell; that is, that it lives in the cavity between the mouth and the first partition, and that it never removes out of this; but that all the apparatus of cells, and a pipe of communication, which we so much admire, serve only to admit occasionally air or water into the shell, in such proportion as may serve the creature in its intentions of swimming.